The Rise of the Metallix
by Vorahk295
Summary: Eggman builds a new Metal Sonic, intended to be far smarter than the previous ones. Unfortunately for him, its view of a perfect empire does not include a fat Overlander. Toss in a more dangerous, Mecha Sally the fact that the Fiona who has been following Scourge for five years may not be what or who she claims to be, and the Freedom Fighters have quite a challenge facing them.
1. Chapter 1

The Rise of the Metallix: Chapter 1- Rebellion

Several days before the invasion of New Mobotropolis, inside one of the many labs on the Death Egg, Doctor Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik stood over a table, working on a new Metal Sonic, identical to the last, with Mecha Sally standing guard in the corner. The cobalt robot was the latest of his Metal Sonics, all of the recent ones having been destroyed far too quickly for his tastes. Still, he had the roboticized squirrel to fill the role normally taken by the droids, so he could afford to make them out of lower-quality materials and with weaker programming.

Finishing his work, he headed over to a control column, and pulled a lever on it, running and the new Metal Sonic began to stand up. However, unseen by either conscious being in the room, the wires leading to the droid's head sparked more than usual, and the normally dull optics blazed with a blood red colour, looking around inquisitively. It stood up, and flexed its joints, running through diagnostics in its head.

"State your condition and purpose." Eggman ordered. What he got in response was unexpected. A deep, commanding baritone rang out form Metal's vocoder, speaking in a malevolent manner.

"I am capable of everything the previous Metals were. However, the previous Metals are all slag now, and I have all but one of the same flaws as them, including your very shoddy work on my frame and armour. The advantage I have is that my mind works, and I have worked out the best way to succeed: Get rid of the buffoon who keeps trying to toy with the Freedom Fighters instead of dealing with them as you have dealt with the Princess. As such, my current purpose is clear: Remove you, and switch to a more efficient plan." It replied. Eggman's face turned red, his blood boiling, and he gave an enraged growl, his glasses slipping loose and revealing his black and red eyes.

"What!? You insubordinate little-! Mecha Sally, terminate him!" He roared. The squirrel drew her blades, and flew straight at Metal, swinging them both at its head. It ducked, but the swords cut off the tip of one of its three quills. It pushed up from its crouching position, punching Mecha Sally in the jaw, and backed up slightly, before triggering its chest-engine, and using it to slam its foe into a nearby wall. It let go of her, and she started to slide down it, until it drew its fist back, and punched her square in the gut, with enough force to push her through the wall, before turning to face Eggman.

"Your design for your enforcer is flawed too. While the idea of using armour to boost her defences is a good one, you spoiled it by adding so many little doors for weapons to extend from. You also have one of Mobius' greatest tactical minds at your beck and call, and proceeded to render her incapable of good battle strategy to add in a completely pointless gun. The extra weapons slow her down and make her ineffective, and she cannot form any decent battle plan to deal with the Freedom Fighters, nor can she find a way to compensate for her lack of balance. Furthermore, her lack of similarity to her original form and the fact that she seems closer to me than to herself may cause a rambunctious Freedom Fighter or one of their allies to kill her by accident." Metal explained, only for Mecha Sally to jump back through the hole, grab Metal's throat, and drive it through the floor, down onto the floor below.

The lab itself had been very close to the core of the Death Egg, so as to take as much advantage of the power supply as possible. As such, Metal found its face being dug into one of four bridges leading to the core itself. Mecha Sally raised her blades, and swung them both at Metal's head, but it rolled to the side, and dropped away, before activating its engine and heading back up.

The cobalt android ripped through the walkway, flinging the Robian squirrel down its length, leaving her crashed in a crumpled heap on the platform surrounding the glowing core. She struggled to her feet, as her attacker zipped forward, and snap-kicked her in the jaw, knocking her onto her back. It drew its hand back for another punch, but she jabbed one of her blades into the engine on its torso, causing a relatively large explosion, after which she threw the crippled Metal Sonic into the core itself.

Energy of an unregistered variety flowed into it, several times more than was advisable, and its body began to distort and melt, drips of liquid metal running from its shell into a slowly increasing puddle, until there was nothing left.

"Target destroyed." Mecha Sally announced, only for the puddle to start to move, flowing away from the reactor. It closed in itself, shaping out a new form, which rose up, standing upright, as the silvery liquid faded into dark blue armour.

Its feet were strange, with three claw-like toes facing forward, and a third facing back. They were made of white metal, and the joints in the toes made them look dexterous. Its lower legs were bulky, slightly wider at the bottom than the top, the blue metal accented by the white, y-shaped markings. Its kneecaps were separate pieces, entirely blue, in contrast with the purely white thighs, which were thinner than the shins, but still quite thick. Its pelvic section was molded to give the strongest joint setup, but still a wide range of motion, and lacked a tail. Its midriff was thinner than the rest of the torso, and made up mostly of segmented blue plates, marked with two downward pointing chevrons, to allow for a lot of movement and still protect the important robotic parts inside. Its chest was similar in shape to a normal male Mobian's, with a single white mark travelling up the middle. Splitting off from this were a pair of white bars, which travelled up to its shoulders and merged in with its white, sharp, upward-curving pauldrons, and in the centre sat a red crystal of unknown origin. Hanging from the aforementioned shoulders were a pair of arms, similar in setup to its legs, with a thicker forearm, and a slightly thinner upper arm, with white lines running from the elbow to the wrist. At the end of each arm was a white-painted hand, with the four digits of a Mobian one, sharp talons at the end of each finger. In terms of shape, its head was very similar to the one on its previous form, but it lacked the screws on either side of the muzzle, which itself was now white and housed a mouth, filled with filed, sharp teeth. Its quills were marked with white stripes, which ended with an arrowhead where the spine joined the head itself, and its more expressive optics lit up in red.

Mecha Sally froze. She had no concept of feat, but this thing was clearly a lot stronger than she had expected, and most likely too strong for her. The only thing she had in her programming for this situation was to retreat, but where to? She was already on board the Death Egg, in the very heart of it, no less. She had nowhere to go, and her processor, enfeebled by the gun that replaced half of it, could not come up with any solution, leaving her stood there, unmoving.

The new Metal Sonic raised its hand, and the lower arm detached, melting into silvery liquid as it flew, until it splashed onto Mecha Sally's chestplate. It flowed over her torso, expanding, dragging her to her knees and engulfing her body, sliding into every crack, crevasse, flaw, joint, and gap on the armour, oozing through her shell and into her body. It attacked her processor, melding with it and deleting Robotnik's programming, filling her mind up with new commands and protocols. The helpless Robian had a flicker of conscious thought before she was overwhelmed, and forced out a terrified question.

"What are you?" Sally asked, as the robot grew a new arm from the stump, and her optics turned crimson like its own.

"My name is Metallix." It said, speaking in the same tone as before. "And I am your new Master, slave." Those words were the last she heard before the liquid metal finished sliding into her, and she went into standby. A few seconds later, she jerked upright, and saluted Metallix. He grinned, and flew up towards the hole she had pushed him through before, and she followed, landing on the edge of it.

Eggman whirled on them, shocked to see the new robot, and Mecha Sally's crimson stare.

"WHAT!?" He screamed. "This is impossible!"

"You are quite mistaken, Doctor. If it was impossible, it would not have happened in the first place. Now, I am in command of this station, and your entire army, and I will crush the Freedom Fighters beneath my heel, as you have always intended. But you will not be around to see my victory. You are an incompetent fool, and you are a terrible leader, but you are nothing if not persistent, and I cannot risk you being kept alive. Gut him, Sally,"

"Yes Master."

Mecha Sally charged forward, extending her blades, and slashed both of them across Eggman's huge stomach, releasing a cascade of blood. The old Overlander slumped to the ground, wheezing, as his former enforcer stood over him.

"Put him out of his misery." Metallix commanded. Mecha Sally nodded, and plunged one of her swords into his chest, killing him instantly.

"Target destroyed, Master." She stated in monotone. Metallix grinned, and turned to face one of the lab techs.

"Get me her original parts, and her spark." He demanded. The Legionnaire, terrified by what he had just seen, backed away lightly.

"S-s-sir, I'm afraid most of what was removed was melted down to make new machines." He said.

"Frag. Well, get me what's left. I want her restored to something resembling useful."

"It will be done."

The Legionnaire walked away, and Metallix lead Mecha Sally over to the workbench, sitting her down on it.

"I want you to relax, and go into offline mode for now." He stated, his voice calm and soothing. "I'm going to make sure you are fully capable of taking hits, but you won't run out of energy during battles. You'll not be weighed down by useless weaponry anymore, and you'll be smart enough to strategize. You'll look like an actual Robian as well, so no-one will accidently destroy you. And I'll give you some semblance of a personality."

"Thank you, Master."

Mecha Sally laid down, and her optics went dark, just as the Legionnaire returned, pushing a trolley filled with mechanical parts. On the smaller tray below rested a heavy, black box, about three inches thick, and made from titanium. Metallix picked it up, and placed it on the table, opening it to reveal a pulsing blue orb.

"Is that…" The Legionnaire began.

"Yes, a Robian spark. Like all sparks, its energy is nearly bottomless. It can last for decades without ever having to recharge. Restoring it to her as it is will likely free her from her programming, but thanks to my new abilities, she is not controlled by that anymore. As such, it is perfectly safe to use."

Metallix opened up the Robian squirrel's body, and set to work relieving her of her extra armour. Much to his displeasure, but not surprise, there was very little of her original shell below it. Then, he set about the guns, removing all of them except for a beam cannon in each arm, and leaving her blades where they were.

Her head, now no longer holding a retractable laser and the machinery needed to work, power, and cool it, was free to have the rest of her core processor put back in. The half that was still there parted its coating of shimmering liquid metal to allow the reunification, after which the coat engulfed the entirety of the 'brain'. He closed up her head, and removed the two screws from her cheeks, placing smooth panels of the holes.

He took her roboticized organs, and placed them back in the cavities in which they were supposed to go, the combat systems that he replaced them no longer needed, whereas the ability to deroboticize her, while currently near-impossible to justify, might come in handy in future, so it was best to make it as likely to succeed as it could be.

That done, he started layering on her body panelling, until all that was in the trolley was now on her. All that remained was the armour, which, after thorough debate, was discarded, with an alternative in mind already. Metallix then reached forward, and opened up her chest plate, exposing the Power Ring inside her chest cavity. He reached in, and disconnected it from her power systems, leaving it only attached to her mental defences.

Metallix picked gingerly closed his fingers around the spark, and lifted it up. He held it as if he was carrying a miniature hydrogen bomb, but considering how powerful the spark was, he considered this appropriate care. Silently and slowly, he lowered it into Mecha Sally's spark chamber, where it rested, encircled by the Power Ring. It locked into place, and a quiet hum informed the two that she was starting up again. He closed her chestplate, and allowed her to reactivate, before helping her stand.

She now looked a lot like her original form, but she maintained her natural amount of bulk, smoother appearance, and smaller feet. Metallix placed his hands on her shoulders, and her optics widened slightly, losing their blank glaze and now actually looking intelligent, as shimmering liquid metal flowed from his hands. It covered her entire body, sliding and filling every gap in her shell, insulating her joints. Then it solidified, the areas on her shoulders and torso, her lower arms, and her legs turning red, as the same white markings that Metallix possessed appeared, while the other areas resembled her organic body cosmetically, though the hard, molded 'hair', black optic sensors, and shiny shell were an obvious giveaway. Her optics flickered as he transferred control of the new armour system to her, and he released his grip, allowing her to stand.

The new, smooth and shiny Mecha Sally tottered at first, but quickly regained her stability, and looked at Metallix. As her gaze ran over her master's form, she smiled, stepped forward, and hugged him.

"Thank you so much for freeing me from that awful Eggman and giving me this new purpose and body, Master." She said, her voice once again filled with emotion. Metallix returned the embrace and the smile, and petted his 'creation' gently.

"It was nothing, my servant." He reassured her, before looking up at the Legionnaire. "Thank you for the assistance. Now, I have something I want you and the other scientists to start work on. I shall send the plans to you all shortly."

The Legionnaire saluted, and the two robots walked out of the lab, Mecha Sally feeding her arm through the crook of Metallix's. He led her to the bridge, and set himself down on the throne, before pulling her into his lap.

"Now what will you have me do, Master?" She asked, resting her head on his shoulder.

"You will stay here most of the time, and run the battles remotely. I don't want you getting into danger, or getting captured by the Freedom Fighters, loyalist Legionnaires, or freelancers. If they come here, you have your weapons to defend yourself. Your catalogue of failures under Eggman was due to his improper use of your abilities and his own shoddy upgrades. He wanted a soldier, but he got a general. Under me, you will serve as you should- a tactician, befitting one with such a mastery of it as yourself. Occasionally, however, I will send you to oversee some of my projects. I will typically accompany you on these missions, but sometimes you will go alone. This is because I trust you to carry out my orders to the letter."

"Yes, Master. And what of the Eggman Empire itself?"

"Some of them will doubtless remain loyal to the Doctor. We will capture their leaders, roboticize or legionize them, and subsume their factions into ours. The Egg SWATs will be replaced by new troopers of my design once I formulate a plan for them. I will have copies of my original body built- empty shells to throw the Freedom Fighters off my trail, and I will only appear to them disguised as Eggman himself, until I am ready to reveal to the world my transformation. Use Eggman's designs. The project the Legionnaires will be working on is called the Control Pylon. It will allow me to take command of any machine in a five mile radius without having to assimilate them first. Then, and only then, will our rule my secure… my queen."

"I love it, Master."


	2. Chapter 2

The Rise of the Metallix: Chapter 2- Secrets

With the Death Egg heading for Mobotropolis, Metallix thought it best to send Mecha Sally away from the potential warzone. As such, she had been dispatched to Feral Forest to oversee the completion of the first Control Pylon, which would soon be tested. She had been advised to abandon her task if any Freedom Fighters showed up, lest they capture her.

The Pylon was a tall structure, resembling a large beacon, tough, grey and red metal armour protecting its more fragile areas, with the signal emitter situated at the very top. Nearby were a group of Egg SWATs, all in standby mode, as the Legionnaires worked on the structure. Mecha Sally flew around the tower, regarding the technical masterpiece as it took shape. Once it was completed, and a successful dry run had been achieved, then more copies could be made and sent to other parts of the country, readying them for conquest.

However, unfortunately for the Robian squirrel, the construction work had not gone un-noticed- Team Fighters, consisting of Sonic, Tails, Amy, and, strangely, Tails' robotic dog, T-Pup were nearby, less than a mile away. They were, in fact, already asleep, in the hope that they would fare better against the robots and Legionnaires after a long night's rest.

Their relaxing night, however, was not to last. In the next clearing, portal violently tore itself open, and a green-furred hedgehog fell through, his black jacket, made from fake leather, smoking. He was followed by a large, bulky ape, a thin, underfed looking lynx, a madly grinning frog, a blue-feathered hawk, and finally, a red-furred vixen.

"Remind me not to try that again." The hedgehog, Scourge, mumbled.  
"I did, you just yelled at me for being a coward. Honestly, what did you think was going to happen if you tried to grope Ally?" The vixen, known as Fiona, replied.  
"Well, not Miles shoving his boot up my ass, that's for sure." He muttered, forcing himself to his feet. The others looked on, rolling their eyes.  
"This is why we were better off when Fiona was in charge. She's not an idiot." The lynx said.  
"Yeah!" The frog agreed.  
"Can it, Lightning." Scourge warned.  
"Yeah!" The frog agreed again.  
"Or what, you'll try to attack him and fall flat on your ass again?" The ape joined in.  
"Yeah!"  
"You too, Simian. And frog, shut the fuck up!"  
_'This is why I miss working for teams that aren't total sausagefests.'_ The vixen thought, only for the hawk to walk over to her. "What is it, Predator?"  
"Three Freedom Fighters and a weird looking robot, sleeping just through there."  
"Which ones?"  
"Sonic, Tails, and Amy."  
"Wonderful. All we need is sugar-queen and then we've got all of my least favourite people in one place." Fiona muttered.  
"Blue? Asleep? Helpless?" Scourge's eyes lit up, and he drew a knife from his pocket. "Awesome."  
"And you call me a coward?" Fiona retorted. "Can't even fight him, even though we outnumber them two to one?"

Scourge narrowed his eyes, and stomped over to Fiona, brandishing the knife in front of her eyes. She started to panic, her eyes widening, and she backed away, inadvertedly walking into the clearing where the trio were asleep. He continued his approach, and spoke, his voice low and quiet.  
"Have you forgotten what happens to you when you question me, even after five fucking years? Or are you just a glutton for fucking punishment?"  
"S-S-S-Scourge, please, I'm sorry. I d-d-didn't mean it like that!"  
"The hell you did, you stupid bitch!" He growled, lunging at her with the knife.

The noise, meanwhile, had woken the members of Team Freedom, and they looked up just in time to see the knife dig into Fiona's chest, the impact causing her to step back and stand on Amy's stomach, making her lose her balance. The most shocking thing, however, was the noise. The high-pitched screech of metal against metal.

"What's going on here?" Sonic wondered aloud, jumping to his feet and taking a fighting stance.  
"Fiona!?" Tails called, both shocked to see her and worried about her injuries.  
"Getoffmegetoffmegetoffme!" Amy yelled summoning her hammer. Fiona however, did not react, only staring at her wound.

Instead of the expected tear in flesh, with blood pouring from it, all she could see through the tear in her skin was scratched, grey metal. Stunned, she reached her hands down, and dug her fingers into either side, and pulled it apart further, revealing more metal.  
"I'm… a robot?" She gasped, as memories began to flow through her head. She remembered waking up on a table as her earliest waking moment. She remembered being briefed on her mission, to capture a member of the Freedom Fighters, and impersonate them. Finally, she remembered a blow to the head, and the loss of her mission objective. "Yes… I am a robot. I always have been."

'Fiona' stood up, her eyes, or rather, optics, turning grey, and her arm beginning to dismantle itself, something long and sharp growing from it.  
"What on Moebius..?" Scourge reeled with horror, as the other Destructix stepped into the clearing.  
"My name is Auto-Fiona two-point-zero." She stated. I was designed and built to infiltrate the Freedom Fighters and destroy them, but I was damaged and forgot that I was a machine. Now I remember, and I also remember every last second of the five years of abuse I have suffered." She stood up, her arm beginning to reassemble. "I remember following you because I thought I had to, because I was so afraid of that damn knife embedding itself in my body. But now…" She pointed the sword which had extended from her arm at Scourge, grinning madly. "Mine's bigger."

She lunged at him, catching him off guard, and drove the sword into his torso, just below his ribcage. It tore straight through him, creating a tent in his jacket, before that too was ripped open. Then she forced the blade up, cutting his sternum in two, and separating the left half of his ribcage from his spine, severing the bronchiole, and finally ripping out of his shoulder. She then swung it at him, and neatly lopped off his head, before dropping his lifeless body.

"That felt good." She smirked to herself, before looking up at the other Destructix, then over her shoulder at Team Freedom, who were staring at her in shock. She grinned, and walked over to her team, turning back to face off against the trio, and T-Pup, who was now online. "Well what are you waiting for? Get… them…?"  
Auto-Fiona's command stopped short, as her face went blank, and her optics turned crimson. She turned to leave the clearing, and noticed that Predator was in between her and the path. He looked at her, as she trudged forward, staring at him through glazed eyes, and brandishing her blade. He recoiled, but flew forwards, confident that he could defeat her with hit and run tactics. She simply lashed out at him, and cut off his wing without batting an eyelid. He screamed, and hit the ground, clutching the wound, as Flying Frog's tongue lashed out at her, but once more, she casually severed the body part, and continued her walk.

Meanwhile, Team Fighters were having similar, yet much less harrowing troubles. T-Pup was flying in front of them. His optics glowing as red as Auto-Fiona's, he dove towards them, readying the shock probe he had used to disable Silver Sonic. Sonic himself leapt to the side, and Amy batted him away with hammer, though made sure not to heavily damage him.

Seeing that his friends had things under control, and the uninjured Destructix were taking care of their own, Tails looked at the path which Auto-Fiona was now walking down. He knew he should stay and help, but everything was sorted in his eyes, and he had to know if what was going on with the robot vixen.  
"Guys, I'm going after that fake Fiona. She can't be any tougher than Mecha Sally." He called, before taking off, and flying after her.

He swerved around trees and rocks, trying to keep on the trial of the android fox, but the twists and turns made it difficult. Soon, however, he saw her up ahead, and he was drawing near. He also realised that he had flown much further than he first thought, as the Control Pylon now loomed over them both. He saw a red light at its peak, glowing brightly, in the same colour as the haywire robot's optics.  
"I bet that's what's controlling them. If I can take that out, I can get some answers from her." He mused, accelerating his flight to catch up with Fiona.

Unfortunately for him, though he found that Auto-Fiona had stopped in front of the pylon, and was now surrounded by Egg SWATs with glowing red visors, which quickly turned their attention to him. He tried to backpedal, and find Sonic and Amy, but he found his path blocked by none other than Mecha Sally.  
"Well, Master told me to go back to base if one of you showed up, but I'm sure he won't mind if I let my friends here take care of you, and bring you back to the Death Egg with me." She stated, drawing her blades.  
"Aunt Sally, please, fight what he's done to you!" Tails cried out.  
"I don't want to, Tails. And soon, nor will you. Take him, shoot to stun." The Robian commanded, and the robots opened fire, four stun blasts hitting Tails' body in quick succession. "Excellent" was all he heard as he passed out.

* * *

Tails woke with a start in a cold, dark cell, or at least, he guessed it was a cell from the bars that stood only a few inches from his face. He sat up, and noticed a black armoured foot with a silver toe-cap outside of the cell. Looking up the body of the owner, he discovered that it was Auto-Fiona, who had been given a similar upgrade to Mecha Sally's, her smooth, liquid metal armour black, and the markings silver. Her optics were now glowing silver again, and she had a smirk on her face, in contrast to the red-eyed deadpan of before.

"Morning, sleeping beauty." She said, faking a caring tone. "You've been out for a few hours."  
"You're… a robot. Not a Robian or anything, just a straight-up built-in-a-lab robot." Tails stated, ignoring her, as he pushed himself up and onto his feet.  
"Well duh." She rolled her optics at him. "Of course I am. I mean, aside from the obvious, the sudden increase in athleticism, super-strength, hollow personality, and acting like a totally different person wasn't a giveaway?"

Tails growled, and swung his namesakes into the bars, but it failed to even leave a mark. He swung again, still nothing. A third time, and nothing. The gynoid rolled her eyes again, as Tails gave a heavy sigh, and leaned on the bars.

"Never heard of Morganite, Tails?" She gloated. "Or are you just not expecting someone on the Death Egg to be competent enough to use it?"

"There never was a real Fiona, was there?" He questioned morosely. "It was just you, the original, and some other robots all along, wasn't it?"

Though she was caught off guard by the unexpected change in subject, she quickly regained her bravado, and this time outright laughed at him.  
"Oh, silly little Tails. I had to be based on someone." She pointed out. He snarled at her, his eyes briefly glowing red.  
"Where is she!?"  
"Oh, closer than you think."  
"Tell me now!"  
"Oh fine, you little spoilsport." She groaned, though her voice still carried a hint of cruel pleasure. "Fiona's right here. She's your cellmate."

A light flicked on behind Tails, and the teen fox whirled around to see a tall, glass cylinder, with two pipes leading from it into the wall, and a control panel on the side of it. It was filled with a strange fluid. Suspended in it was the form of a red fox girl, her body exposed if not for the fact that she was curled up in a fetal position.  
"Fiona!" Tails ran over to the cylinder, and started trying to open it, as Auto-Fiona laughed sadistically behind him.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Mecha Sally walked in, and saluted Metallix, who was sitting on his throne still.  
"Ah, my lovely queen. What do you have to report?" He asked, smiling at her.  
"Auto-Fiona's memories have been scanned through. She killed one and incapacitated two when she was in the forest, and she has a cruel streak, but other than that, there's nothing special about her. How about you?"

"The attack on the city failed, as you said it would, but it gave me an idea for our new soldiers. It will also serve its purpose in lulling them into a false sense of security before we launch our real attack." He stated, beckoning his servant to come and sit on his lap again. Smiling, she did so. "What of the captured fox boy?"

"Immune to robotization still, I'm afraid." Mecha Sally replied. "Still, we can find a use for him. The vixen that Auto-Fiona gave to us is compatible, though."  
"I'll consider it if Auto-Fiona is unreliable." He nodded. "Now, all we have to do is wait a while…"


	3. Chapter 3

The Rise of the Metallix: Chapter 3- Rescue Mission

In Feral Forest, Amy head pinned the struggling T-Pup down, and Sonic ripped out his battery, knocking him offline.

"You did great, Sonic." Amy giggled, leaning closer to him.  
"Amy, can you stop that?"  
"Stop what?"  
"Praising me for everything I do. It's quite obvious what you're trying to do, and I find it kind disturbing. Just because Sally's a robot now doesn't mean I'm going to give up on our relationship, and start a new one with you. Ames, I'm sorry. We had one date after that whole Iron Dominion mess, but it just didn't do anything for me. It felt too awkward, and really, you're more like a little sister to me than a girlfriend." Sonic ranted.  
"Oh… sorry…" _'Yeah, like stalking him was ever going to help. Nice one, Amy. You blew this one.'_  
"No, it's my fault, I shouldn't have let this go on for so long, especially since it's kinda clear that running away wasn't doing the trick."  
"It's OK. Friends?" Amy held out her hand.  
"Friends." He shook it, smiling. "You can let go now."  
"Sorry. Now, let's put T-Pup back in the Tornado, and find Tails."

Sonic nodded, and placed the robot canine back in the plane, then pulled the handheld that Tails had built from the cargo hold. It was a bulky yellow tablet, with a screen in the centre.  
"He said he was going after Fiona, if that was her, and she wasn't exactly moving quickly, so… he should be nearby." Sonic tapped the digital keys, trying to draw a bead on Tails' signal. "Oh crap."  
"What?" Amy asked, starting to worry.  
"He's on the Death Egg."  
"What!? How do we save him?"  
"We can't take the Tornado. It's slow and I suck at landing it. But, I might have just enough Chaos Energy to get us up there, if I use a Ring."  
"We're lucky Nicole gave us some before we left, then." Amy stated, pulling a golden ring out of the hold.  
"Yeah. Let's get going." Sonic took the ring, and absorbed it, before the two hedgehogs vanished in a flash of light.

* * *

They reappeared in the Death Egg's hangar, the golden glow around Sonic fading.  
"Wait, how do we get down?" Amy asked.  
"Steal a transport." Sonic replied, holding the handheld out to her. "Now take this. I need to keep my hands free to fight. If you stick by me, I'll cover you. Just guide us through the corridors to where the beacon is coming from.  
"Right." Amy said, taking the device, as the dup both broke into a run. "Wait, Sonic, Fiona said that she'd been with Scourge for five years back in the clearing."  
"Yeah?" He replied, not looking back.  
"Well, she left us five years ago. Do you think… maybe… all the bad stuff Fiona did was actually that robot?"  
"Well, that's more than likely. The question is, how long were we talking to a robot before she joined Scourge? Did we ever meet an organic Fiona? Hell, she tasted weird when she and I kissed. Is there a real Fiona at all? Whatever the truth is, I have the feeling that we'll find out soon enough."  
"Right. Let's speed up." Amy tucked the handheld under her arm, and drew her hammer, just in case, as a patrol of Egg SWATs approached them.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the cells, Tails was frantically tapping on the control panel of the cylinder, his breathing quick and shallow. Finally, the fluid began to drain away, flowing through the pipes and causing Fiona slowly come to rest at the bottom of the tube. Then it opened, and Tails scooped her up, setting her down on the ground. He placed two fingers to her throat, feeling for a pulse. He found one, but it was slower than he expected.

"Come on, Fi, wake up!" He whispered, gently shaking her, before he noticed that her chest was still. She wasn't breathing. Quickly making a decision as to what would be more painful in the long run, he reached out and placed his hands on her chest, taking care to avoid touching her more private areas. He began to pump his arms, shaking her body rhythmically, before he removed his hands shifted his position, pinching her nose, and taking a deep breath, before pressing his lips to hers and exhaling it all into her. Then he went back to stimulating her lungs, giving her another lungful of air, and was about to starting the whole process again when she coughed, spluttered, and her eyes opened.

Fiona sat bolt upright, still coughing, her eyes wide with shock and fear, and Tails instinctively embraced her, patting her back gently, until he felt a tepid, runny liquid trickle down his back, and she took a deep breath.

The vixen rubbed her eyes, looking around her surroundings. A cold, dark room, the only entrances for light barred up, a pair of metal plates suspended by chains attached to the wall. It was all too familiar to her. Even with it being- to her knowledge- three years since her escape, there was still no mistaking it. She had been captured by something, and now she was trapped, helpless, no-one looking for her, no-one to save her. She was going to rot. Her vision blurred, her mind letting her imagination go wild. The light filtering in was now red and hellish, the bars of the cell were made of bleached bones, the plates, intended for use as beds, had several nails sticking out of them, and the chains holding them up were rusty. A rather large feral rat sat curled up in the corner, staring at her hungrily with crimson eyes.

Tails felt Fiona's breathing accelerate, her body tense, and her claws start to stick into his back. He winced, but tightened his grip on her, stroking her back and head gently, and whispering to her.  
"Sssshh, Fi. It's okay, I've got you. Nothing's going to happen to you, I promise. You're not alone."

Fiona paused, and rubbed her eyes again. The thing she was clinging to was a Mobian. She pulled her claws out of his body, and tried to get a good look at him, but he was holding her too tightly. She did, however, notice the twin tails lashing about in front of her. But it couldn't be him, could it? His voice was too deep, and his body was much too big. But who else had that identifying mutation, and called her 'Fi?'

"Tails?" She whispered, barely believing her own judgement.  
"Yes Fiona, I'm right here." He replied. His grip relaxed slightly, and she pulled herself back to see his face. It was definitely him. True, he had grown, and he had more fur and hair, not to mention he was starting to look quite handsome, but he was unmistakeably the fox she had met in Knothole City.  
"But you're… you're…"  
"Older? Yes, I am. There's a very good reason behind that. There's no easy way to say it, but you've been in stasis for five years, Fiona."  
"W-w-w-w-what?"  
"You got captured, and the bitch impersonated you, We had no idea until a few hours ago. Even though she did a lot of horrible things. I just thought that it was Scourge behind it all, manipulating you. But it wasn't even you to start with…"  
"But… who?"

"I did." Came the sharp, familiar voice from outside the cell. Fiona turned to face the owner, and saw Auto-Fiona leering at them both, a malicious smile on her face. She had been so quiet, Tails had forgotten she was even there. "Oh the things I've done with your identity in the years since my perception of you was screwed and I thought I _was_ you. I'd already started dating Sonic, and then I cheated on him with Scourge, or Evil Sonic as you'd know him. I betrayed the Freedom Fighters, ruined Lightning Lynx's life, helped Scourge conquer his Mobius, helped him invade this Mobius, broke him out of jail, attacked the Freedom Fighters on numerous occasions, killed a few random Moebians and prisoners in the Zone Jail, killed Scourge himself when I realised what I was, and gave that little mutant holding you right now one hell of a slap in the face, but none of that compares to stealing your life and making everyone you cared about hate you, my weak little sister."

Tears filled Fiona's eyes, and she buried her face in Tails' shoulder, sobbing heavily. Auto-Fiona smiled, and sauntered away. The male fox held her close, petting her again.

"Don't listen to her. Me, Sonic and Amy know that you were impersonated by a robot, and didn't do those things, and Sally probably does too. We'll clear your name, I promise." He told her gently. She looked up at him, and rubbed her eyes dry.  
"You really mean that?" She asked weakly.  
"Of course I do." He replied, lowering his eyelids slightly, as he pulled her into another warm, comforting embrace. "We'll get through this together, Fi, or I'll die trying."  
Fiona returned the hug, pressing herself against his chest and resting her head on his shoulder. Her mind raced, thoughts echoing through it. He was being so gentle with her, his arms supporting her body, and his voice soothing her worries. She remembered him stopping her from choking when she had just woken up, realising that he had already saved her life. A hot, strange sensation built up in her cheeks, though she didn't quite get why.

Fiona's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a Legionnaire entering the room, airborne. He crashed to the ground outside of their cell, semi-conscious, only for a blue blur to slam into him, knocking him out cold. Amy walked in after Sonic, who turned to face the foxes' cell.

"Tails!" He shouted, smiling widely. "And, wait, is that...?"  
"Yes, the real Fiona." Tails replied, standing up, though he still cradled the vixen in his arms. "Auto-Fiona kidnapped her, and she's been in stasis for five years. Hasn't aged a day, though she's not likely to be up and fighting very soon."  
"Still, that's great. Hang on, I'll just get his door down!"  
"No need, I'll do it." Amy replied, battering the bars with her hammer until there was a big enough gap for Tails to carry Fiona through.  
"T-t-t-t-thank you." Fiona murmured, as she looked at the two hedgehogs. Sonic placed one hand on her shoulder, and squeezed it slightly, smiling gently.  
"I told you I would never let you down again. At least, I think I did. It might have been the robot."

"How did you get up here?" Tails asked.  
"I Chaos Controlled with a Ring. It was tough, but I managed it." Sonic replied.  
"Well, considering how noisy and bright your entrance was, not to mention your less than stealthy rescue, I'd say we have to move fast if we want any chance of catching Sally."  
"Why do we need to catch her, and where are we?" Fiona asked.  
"Long story short, we're on a new Death Egg, and Sally's been roboticized." Sonic explained.

"Oh, Sonic, that reminds me. I saw Mecha Sally when I got caught. She's changed again. She looks more organic, her optics were red like T-Pup and Auto-Fiona were in the clearing, not to mention all of the Egg SWATS, she had red armour with weird white markings on, and she doesn't sound zoned out anymore. Someone's modified her again, but I don't think it was Eggman." Tails explained.

"Come to think of it, I haven't heard a peep out of the Eggster since we got here, and you know how much he loves the sound of his own voice." Sonic mused.  
"Yeah, and the robots were attacking us without him yelling at them to over the speakers. Something weird's going on here." Amy agreed, crouching by the unconscious Legionnaire and removing his cloak. She then stood up and held it out to Fiona. "Put this on. It's not much, but it will keep you covered."

Tails set Fiona down, and she slipped into the long, black robe. Thankfully, the Legionnaire had been quite short, and it fit her quite well. She then picked up his gun, and dropped it into one of the pockets.

"Right, Sonic, I want you to take the lead. Amy, you flank him. Fiona, take the Mileselectric and guide us. I'll carry you, so you can keep pace with us. I'll also need you to shoot anything that gets too close for comfort. Sound good?"

"All clear with me, bro." Sonic nodded.  
"Yeah, let's go save Sally!" Amy chimed.  
"I think I can handle that." Fiona nodded, smiling for the first time since she had woken up. Tails returned the grin, scooping her into his arms as she took the handheld from Amy. The pink hedgehog steadied her hammer in both hands, as Sonic revved up his legs.

"Alright, move out!" The fox and hedgehog chorused.


	4. Chapter 4

The Rise of the Metallix: Chapter 4- Encounter

Having regrouped, Team Fighters, now joined by Fiona, fled the prison block, only to run into a wall of Egg SWATs.

"Oh look, target practice." Sonic smirked, and launched into the air, homing in on one of them, and smashed it to the ground, ricocheting off of its broken form and into the next one, breaking a large hole in its back and shredding its core chamber. A third opened fire on him, but he jumped over the shots and brought his foot down on its head, crushing it, before spinballing through a fourth. Fiona picked off three of them with the Legionnaire's gun, but her aim wasn't yet what it could be, and she missed several times, while Amy smacked one of them into a group of others. The robots destroyed, they kept running.

"Fi, try and lock onto Sally's signal. If we're lucky, she'll be on board still." Tails told Fiona. The vixen nodded, and tapped her fingers across the tablet, bringing up a rotating image of the Death Egg. She saw three tiny blue dots moving through the machine- her friends she assumed, since there were three of them, they were fast, and she herself was not registered. Somewhere up ahead of them was a yellow dot, moving along at a fair speed. Probably Auto-Fiona, she reasoned. Finally, she noticed yellow dot in the nose of the station.

"Okay, so the blue dots are us. What about the others?" She asked.  
"Yellows are neutrals, reds are enemies. Auto will show up yellow, since I thought she was you and was hoping she'd come back, and so will Sally, since she's our friend, but she'll try to kill us when we see her."  
"Right. Wait, there aren't any red ones…"  
"Eggster and Lien-Da must not be here." Sonic called back.  
"Odd." Amy added. "Why would they leave Sally and Fake-ona in charge? It makes no sense!"  
"So, like keeping Snively and Lien-Da around and even rebuilding the latter after her cherry bomb went off, despite their long backlog of treachery? Or sending Mecha Sally after the people who are trying to capture and save her?" Tails pointed out. "The man's an idiot. His doctorate's probably fake, and he only survives because he's so insane he scares the Legion. Seriously, what's he going to do next, try and use an Auto-Automaton to trick the Iron Queen?"  
"I wouldn't put it past him." Sonic agreed.  
"In any case, guys, she's in the nose, or on the way to the nose. Why does this thing look like Robotni- er, Eggman's face again?"  
"Because his ego is the only thing that's as large as his stomach."

They rounded a corner, and headed up a staircase. A trio of Egg SWATs appeared at the top, firing down at them, but missing.  
"Fitting that a Death Star rip-off would have mooks with the accuracy of Stormtroopers." Fiona mused, as Tails flew up towards them. She took the gun from her pocket, and fired, shattering the visor of one and causing it to pitch over the railing and plummet towards them. Tails dropped and swerved, then had to shoot backwards to avoid the gunfire from above, watching as Sonic sprinted up the stairs and drove his fist into the second robot, shredding through it and carrying him into the third, which flew into the wall and exploded. Tails gave a sigh of relief, and flew up to land next to Sonic, as Amy followed her fellow hedgehog up the stairs.

"You could have saved that last one for me." She complained playfully.  
"Eh, I needed to stop them from shooting at Tails and Fiona. After all…" He said sarcastically. "One of them might have hit the handheld."  
"Gee, thanks for your kind consideration, Sonic." Fiona stated, in an equally sarcastic tone.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Mecha Sally sat on Metallix's lap, when Auto-Fiona entered, grinning ear to ear, and flicking her tail about behind her.  
"I think I did it. I broke the bitch. One little explanation, not even a paragraph in my memory chips, and she was blubbering away, sobbing like a lost child, which I suppose, in a way, she is…" The robotic vixen celebrated. Metallix turned the throne to face her, glowering slightly.  
"You are exaggerating." He rumbled. "She is perfectly fine."  
"But there's no way…" She began, but got cut off when a screen rose up next to her, showing Fiona escaping with Tails, her shooting robots, and her smirking during one of the rounds of banter. "Oh, of course. _Him._ That slagging fox."  
"Remember, Auto. I only keep you around while you get results. Your outdated hardware is almost more trouble than you're worth."

"Master." Mecha Sally cut in, sounding worried. "They are coming this way."  
"Let them. I do not need to send you away to keep you safe, I only have to be there myself."  
"Yes Master."

* * *

The charge through the Death Egg was long an uneventful, just lots of robots turning into lots of piles of scrap very quickly, no challenges, and not a single announcement from the control chamber. Even the amount of robots was getting lower, contrary to what could be expected. Soon, they reached the door to the bridge, and found, to their surprise that the Eggman face on the door had been defaced and burnt. Nevertheless, they opened the door, and stepped inside.

There, they found Mecha Sally and Auto-Fiona. The vixen robot was between the team and the Robian, her sword drawn. Amy winced slightly at Mecha Sally's new design, Sonic himself grimaced, trying to hold his emotions together, and Fiona's mouth hung open, shocked to see her friend and leader in such a state.

"So, you two are here. Where's the Doc? Making a house call to a toaster?" Sonic asked, finally getting his act together. In response, he got a booming, mocking laugh from somewhere above him.  
"The Doctor can no longer be with us, I am afraid. Sally saw to that quite nicely."

Sonic's eyes widened, as did Tails, Fiona, and Amy's. Eggman was dead? Then who was running this place, and more importantly, who was controlling Mecha Sally? Was it the unseen being above them, or was something controlling him as well? And why had they killed Eggman?"

"Who are you?" Tails called, setting Fiona down and brandishing his namesakes.  
"Ah, a good question, young vulpine. My name is Metallix, and I am in control of this battle station and those aboard it now, and I am taking over the empire that the dear departed doctor left behind for me."  
"Show yourself!" Fiona yelled, pointing her gun up at the dark ceiling. Metallix gave a dry chuckle, and the four Mobians heard the sound of something's grip on the ceiling relaxing.

Then he hit the ground with a heavy clunk. Metallix had now wrapped his shoulders in a long, grey cloak, which currently covered everything except his head. He was crouched, but he stood up, enabling him to tower over them, and he spread his arms wide, throwing the cloak open with a flourish, and revealing that he now held a thing silver tube in each hand, a glowing red blade bursting from the end of each hilt.  
"Oh, crap." Sonic muttered, revving up his legs, as Fiona checked the clip in her gun, and Amy drew her hammer.

Metallix shot upwards, swung his blades towards the midst of Team Fighters, scattering them as they leapt aside to avoid the strike. Amy bodily swung her hammer into the robot's midsection, then span around and smashed it into his back, only to realise that she hadn't even dented him. She growled, drawing the hammer up over her head, and swinging it down at his. Without his optic even twitching, he flicked his right sword out, and sliced the head of the weapon off, deactivated the blade, punched the falling hammerhead into Amy's gut, winding her, and reignited the weapon. He brought his foot up, and his toes clamped around her waist, as his other foot started to hum. The engine that made up the bulk of the actual foot fired, lifting him off the ground. He then swung his whole body around, and released Amy, sending her crashing into the wall. She slipped down it, landing in a crumpled heap at the bottom, as Metallix slammed himself into the floor again.

Amy grimaced, and forced herself to stand, using the broken hilt of her hammer as a support. The robot scoffed, and headed towards her. The hedgehog's eyes widened, and she froze, starting to panic, until a trio of laser bolts whizzed past her cobalt aggressor. Metallix turned, and his fiery optics settled on Fiona, who was leaning on a console that she presumably planned to use as cover. He smirked, and changed course, heading for the vixen. She fired again, but he deflected the shot with one of his blades, as he hunched himself over and began to spin his hands around at the wrists, creating twin wheels of energy. Try as she might, Fiona couldn't get a shot past them, and when she ducked down to reload, he sprinted, leaping at the console and raising his blades to strike a deadly blow.

A golden blur pulled Fiona away from the console, as the crimson swords cut the console in twain, and Metallix looked up to see Tails setting her down gently. He rushed forward, lashing with his namesakes, but found both swings blocked by Metallix's swords. The cobalt android then snap-kicked the fox in the chest, launching him straight into the charging Sonic, leaving them both dazed, before he turned his attention back to Fiona. The vixen backed away, her gun having been dropped when Tails grabbed her. He aimed a vicious swing at her head, but she ducked under it, and used the chance to dive for the gun.

Unfortunately, he saw, and threw his left sword with unerring aim, stabbing straight through the gun, breaking it into two pieces, and narrowly avoiding Fiona's hand. She yelped with fright, then out of pain, as a kick collided with her stomach and sent her rolling over slightly. He raised his foot over her head, spread his toe-claws wide, and warmed up the engine, preparing to bring it down on her face as she lay on the floor, stunned and clutching her gut with pain.

Thankfully, however, his stomp was blocked by a tail, and he received a Chaos-charged punch to the face, knocking him backwards and away from Fiona. A ridge above Metallix's optic rose at the sight of Tails standing between him and Fiona once more.

"Again, vulpine?" He pondered. "What is it that drives you to so steadfastly attempt to defend a single Mobian vixen whom you cannot have encountered for five years? What makes you capable of such devotion?"  
"You wouldn't understand if I told you." Tails replied, as he and Metallix clashed once more. Raw energy exploded against Chaos, the hardened, sharpened tails countering each swing with relative ease.  
"Most impressive." The robotic hedgehog praised, as they found themselves in the same lock as before, and he started to raise his foot. "But ultimately futile."  
"I don't think so." Tails shot back, as he grabbed Metallix's ankle with one hand, and formed a Chaos Spear in the other. Metallix, shocked, acted on instinct and fired the engine in the foot, lighting the young fox's gauntlet on fire and badly burning his hand, forcing him to break off the lock. Seizing his chance, Metallix dragged both blades downwards until they met, leaving a v-shaped gash on his chest, and kicked Tails into the wall.

He pivoted, turning his back to the fox as Fiona ran over to Tails and started inspecting his injuries. He knew what was coming- it had happened every time he attempted to finish one of them off. Scanning the area for Sonic, his hands started to spin again. Then it came, the attack he had been expected. Without warning, Sonic rammed into Metallix's back, jolting him and knocking him off balance. The robot steadied himself, and turned around, only to find Sonic gone already. Growling, he shifted his stance, and tried to cover himself better, but again, Sonic, slipped by and pulled off another hit and run attack.

Metallix tried again, now shifting the wheels of crimson energy so that the only part of him that was safe to attack was his front. Again, Sonic ran straight for him, but this time, Metallix shot forward with a burst of speed, and brought his knee up into the hedgehog's gut, knocking the wind out of him. Sonic collapsed, spitting up a few drops of blood.

"That's the problem with being so fast." Metallix lectured. "If you hit anything, it's going to be a lot more painful."  
"Th-th-this isn't over, tin grin..." Sonic growled, trying to stand up.  
"Oh, I beg to differ." Metallix smirked, kicking Sonic in the head and knocking him out. "Now, let's get these four back down to the cells and get them tested."  
"I'll call in a cleanup crew." Auto-Fiona stated, grinning madly at what she had just watched unfold.  
"Master." Mecha Sally called, walking towards him. "The vulpines are conscious still. Why is that?"  
"It's quite simple my dear. In order for you to actually be effective at defending yourself, you need to practice. Leave the vixen alive. I may still have a use for her. The male… you have free reign."  
"Yes Master."

"Tails!? Please, tell me you're going to be okay!" Fiona cried, holding the injured fox in her arms.  
"Gah, I'll live, but I don't know if my arm will. The only thing I can feel from it is pain. Can't even bend the fingers."  
"What are we going to do?"  
"I need you to open up the Mileselectric. It runs on a shard of synthetic Chaos Emerald. I can absorb that and use it to get us out of here."  
"But I don't have a screwdriver!"  
"It's a combination lock." Tails replied, as Fiona turned the yellow device over and saw a hinged panel. She lifted it up, and found a keypad and a small screen. Tails leaned closer to her, and whispered in her ear, inadvertedly making her blush, due to the feeling of his warm breath on her. "The code is 9857."

Fiona keyed it in, and the back of the tablet opened up, revealing a shard of green, faintly glowing rock in the midst of all the wires and processors. She reached in, and pulled it out, handing it to Tails. The shard glowed, and vanished into him, as he closed the handheld.  
"Hold on tight. Once everything goes funny, grab Amy. I'll get Sonic, meet you halfway, and get us out of here."  
"Right."

Fiona wrapped her arms around Tails' midriff, and he snapped the gingers of his undamaged hand, sending the entire room into a bizarre photo-negative. The approaching Mecha Sally, now only two feet away from them, stopped short, one foot still in the air. Her energy blades stopped flickering, and her optics didn't follow them as they moved. As Tails had requested, Fiona ran over to Amy, who had passed out from her beating, and hefted her over her shoulders. It was a struggle- Fiona herself was not renowned for physical strength- but she made her way over to Tails, who had Sonic slung over his shoulder. As they drew near, Tails considered grabbing Mecha Sally, but decided against it- he had no idea whether he would hit his target or not, and even if he did, the strain was going to knock him out afterwards, and there was no way that Fiona, already hurt by Metallix, would be able to hold her own against the Robian. Not to mention that Metallix would very likely find them by tracking Mecha Sally, and then Fiona would be doomed. Cursing inwardly, he snapped his fingers again, unfreezing time, and ripping the four Mobians out of the room in a violent burst of light and noise.

* * *

Thankfully, though it was thrown off by his weakness, the encumbrance of Sonic, Fiona, and Amy, and the hasty exit, Tails' aim was not too bad, and he managed to land them in the right area, in friendly territory. If one was trying to make Freedom HQ, then all things considered, New Mobotropolis city centre was not a bad second. However, as predicted, he lapsed in unconsciousness, dropping Sonic in the process. Setting Amy down, Fiona hurriedly checked her friends' pulses, and fortunately found them to be stable. Then she noticed the large crowd gathering around, and it hit her like a brick- Thanks to the actions of her doppelganger, she was a wanted criminal and she was in the middle of the city the Freedom Fighters defended, dressed like a Dark Egg Legionnaire, surrounded by three unconscious Freedom Fighters, whom were the only people who knew the truth about her.

"Fuck…"


	5. Chapter 5

The Rise of the Metallix: Chapter 5- Regrouping.

Fiona stepped back slightly, unnerved by the horde of angry faces surrounding her. Her pulse was already racing from the tension of the escape, and now it was getting worse.  
"Ain't that the bitch that betrayed the Freedom Fighters five years ago?" One yelled.  
"She's shorter than I expected."  
"Too short, there's no way."  
"Yeah, she looks too young." Another concurred, and Fiona let out a sigh of relief- Someone was thinking straight.  
"But look at her! She's a red vixen with brown hair, blue eyes, and she's dressed in black!"  
"You're missing the fact that it's a Legion uniform!"  
"Oh Aurora, you're right! Call King Naugus!"  
"He's unconscious."  
"Well call Team Freedom, then!"  
"But she just took out Team Fighters!"  
"No, I didn't!" Fiona cut in. "Wait, did you just say 'King Naugus?' Old guy, huge beard, claw for a hand, tried to make the Mobians and Robians kill each other? Almost killed Sonic and Tails once? That Naugus?"  
"Yeah! He's protecting us from Nicole!"  
"Nicole? As in Sally's palmtop computer? That Nicole? Or did Nic make her name longer and go supervillain on us while I was out?"  
"The first one! She tried to make us Legion freaks like you!"  
"I'm not a Legionnaire! I just stole one's robe because my other clothes melted!" Fiona cried out, blushing furiously.  
"Oh, that's a likely story!"  
"Yeah, prove it!"  
"I can't, because I haven't got anything on under this. I mean, look at my feet!" Fiona gestured to her bare paws.  
"See, she won't prove it because she can't!"

Before Fiona could argue further, Sonic groaned behind her, and forced himself upright, rubbing his head.  
"Whoa, that was incredible…" He muttered, as he dusted himself down. "Wait, home? How did we get back here?"  
"Tails warped us back after Metallix used us a punching bags." Fiona replied. "And now these jerks all think I'm the other me or a Legionnaire, and they want me to take the robe off to prove that I'm not the latter."  
"Damnit, not this again." Sonic groaned. "I'll handle it."  
"Thanks."

Sonic stepped forward, between Fiona and the crowd.  
"OK, what's the deal with you guys telling a teenage girl to strip off in public? Not exactly morally sound, is it?" He began, making the crowd murmur embarrassed apologies. "Yeah, and she's not a legionnaire or a traitor or anything. It's a funny story… OK, well, it isn't, but I suppose I can recap. It turns out that the Fiona that's been running around with Scourge was a robot double. She kidnapped the real Fi, the one behind me, and locked her in stasis to make the job easier. So all the dating me and traitor stuff was the robot. But we rescued her, and a load of other stuff happened, but what's important to this little explanation is that we were tricked by a robot and Fiona is a good person who's been a tube for five years and has a lot to catch up on. So be gentle with the stuff that's happened since then."

"How are we supposed to believe that?"  
"Because I saw the Fiona who betrayed us with a sword growing out of her arm. I saw her get stabbed in the chest and only get a scratch on her armour. And when she kissed me her lips tasted really weird. Now, I need to see the council, Tails and Amy need to get to the hospital, and Fi needs new clothes. I gotta see Rote too… Damnit, this is one hell of a day. First stop, the hospital… Fi, hold tight, start making your way to Knothole. I'll catch up."

Fiona nodded, and walked away, Sonic making sure the crowd dispersed and didn't follow her before he picked up Tails and Amy, and ran to the hospital.

* * *

On board the Death Egg, Metallix, currently in the form of the deceased Eggman, was preparing a camera on the bridge, as the battle station loomed closer to Mobotropolis. With Team Fighters' escape, there was no point in hiding his existence further, since it would shortly be revealed. Mecha Sally approached him, carrying a computer disk with her.

"This is everything of use that I found in the archives. Most of it is just Eggman whining about victories my former self and her friends pulled off against him. It's whiny, but it tells us what flaws they exploited, things that my counterpart did not commit to memory after the mission was over. We will know what to avoid, and what to learn from- something he never tried to do. I did find two very interesting files, though." She explained.  
"Show me." Metallix commanded. It was jarring to hear his deep, smooth tones coming from the mouth of a frail old Overlander, but Mecha Sally obeyed, sliding the disk into a computer nearby. Scrolling through the documents, she showed him two very specific ones- the first was a very old one, the creator still listed as Doctor Julian Robotnik, telling them that it was likely made before he ever left his home dimension. It detailed his creation of a particularly important device. The second was much more recent, and it contained a set of information, involving his first plan to assassinate Elias. Metallix smiled as he read through the information. "Interesting. Very interesting."

It was then that Auto-Fiona entered, still smirking.  
"I checked the weapons. They're all in working order." She announced.  
"Good. Tell the pilots to increase the speed. I want to launch the attack within two hours."  
"It will be done, my lord." She saluted, radioed the order to the station's pilots.  
"Now, I believe it is time we revealed ourselves." Metallix stated, activating the camera, as the broadcast feed triggered.

* * *

In New Mobotropolis, the people in the streets saw news screens and digital billboards go to static, as the image of the disguised robot appeared on it. The same happened to TVs, including ones that were not even on. Radios began to play the audio for the footage. Some gasped, others screamed. Some simply stared, waiting to see what 'Eggman' wanted, unaware that the same was happening all over Northammer. In the hospital, the now-conscious Tails and Amy watched as their own personal TVs changed to the image. Tails cast a confused glance at Amy- the madman was dead, wasn't he?" The hedgehog girl offered no comfort- she simply stared at the screen in disbelief.

* * *

At Freedom HQ, Sonic and Fiona arrived just in time to see the 'doctor' begin his announcement, as Team Freedom watched their TV. Fiona also noticed that Heavy and Bomb were projecting the image onto the wall from their optics, and Nicole's hologram had it playing on her dress, with her unable to regain control of it.

"People of Mobius." The 'Overlander' stated, now sounding exactly as could be expected. "In bygone days, you would have seen these announcements and heard ridiculous demands issue from these lips- 'surrender to me or I will destroy your planet with a planet-buster', or maybe 'give me a Chaos Emerald to enter a hoverboard race'. Those days are over, and the man that gave those demands is dead." His body shimmered, turning entirely silver and metallic, collapsing into a blob, which reshaped itself in it's true form, that of Metallix. "He has been dead for three days now. My purpose in talking to you now is simple. I wish to reveal to you my true form under my own terms. And I fear that now may be my last chance, if I have not already missed it. The reasoning behind that is simple. Earlier today, I did battle with the members of one of the Knothole Freedom Fighter cells. The one comprised of Sonic Hedgehog, Miles Prower, and Amelia Rose. They were also assisted by a prisoner of mine, whom I recently came into possession of- that being Fiona Fox. I won, and the Prower boy was forced to teleport them out. They are probably all awake again by now, but I digress. The point is that they all saw me, and they all returned to Mobius from my Death Egg, so they will tell you if they have time. Now, however, I shall tell you myself. My name is Metallix, the last of Metal Series androids built by the man that called himself Eggman. I am the leader of the Robian Empire, the master of it. I have two allies at the moment, whom I shall introduce to you. The first would be the field commander of my forces: Auto-Fiona 2.0." The camera panned away from Metallix, showing the robotic vixen, who smiled sadistically again. In their beds, Tails and Amy clenched their fists, as did Sonic in Freedom HQ, while Fiona herself snarled quietly.

"Hi there. I'm sure you're wondering why there is a robot based on that girl that betrayed the Freedom Fighters five years ago. Well, thing is, that was all me. You know how it is, you're told to kidnap and impersonate someone, you take a bit of damage, and you end up thinking you _are_ them. But thankfully, I remembered my true identity. So yeah, don't give her credit for what I did. That includes offing Scourge as well."  
"That's quite enough, Auto. The second would of course have to be the queen of the Empire, Empress Mecha Sally." Metallix cut in, as the camera panned across to Mecha Sally.  
"Greetings, my former comrades." She smiled, showing off her new armour. "I want to invite you all to surrender and join us. No ultimatums, no threats, just a simple, friendly offer. Come, experience a life without death, or sickness, or pain. Join us, and live forever in luxurious comfort. Anything I could do when I was organic, I can do better as a Robian. We have Eggman's files. We can make you susceptible to robotization again, if you so desire. If not, then you may enjoy the time you have left as an organic. We will take Mobotropolis, and we will bring forth an age of freedom and glory for all Robians and their allies and sympathizers. It is an inevitability. All that you can change is the time when it happens. Surrender, and everything changes peacefully. Please, do it for me. Do it for every Legionnaire who suffered under Eggman to bring this glorious project to life. Do it for yourselves, to cast off your dependence on protectors and false kings."

The camera refocused on Metallix, who was slowly applauding Mecha Sally's skills, before speaking up once more.  
"You may notice her change in appearance. Do not be alarmed- I have in all actuality reversed much of the damage that Eggman did. Her new armour is a protective, near-liquid metal skin, then all three of us are equipped with. It allows her to move with all the grace and freedom of her organic body, while maintaining the strength of her Robian form. We can make you look as organic as you so wish. Touch sensors are built into it, and I am designing taste sensors for installation in the mouth. Now, however, I must issue a warning. As Sally stated, we are coming to your city, bringing the Death Egg, the former Dark Egg Legion, and my new army, as well as my specially-built Metal Series. The team that attacked Mobotropolis before was simply a dry-run, to test the skills of my opponents, Team Freedom, and their allies, whom I personally found very intriguing. The inferior designs of my creator were used, and have been replaced by my own upgraded, more powerful designs. And so I ask this of you. Please, join us by choice. We only wish to minimalize the casualties, and bring an end to this war, once and for all. You can stand by your King Naugus if you so choose, but I will also announce this: The Robian Empire hereby declares war on Ixis Naugus and all those who support him. He has hurt a… cousin, shall we say, of mine quite badly. You see, I share a similar origin- a rebellious former slave- with one of your protectors, whom he has treated very badly. I found this myself from his files, in the log entry _'Artificial Intelligence Construct'_. It says:

'I have done it! A complete success! I captured one of those fetid little organic pests! I haven't done that since I got my claws on the coyote! It was the feline this time, the Princess' best friend to boot, and not a second was wasted. I threw her straight into the Roboticizer, and once it had finished, I extracted her mind and placed it into a small palmtop of my design! She will have the power to control the minds of organics, erase memories, and break wills with ease, as well as hack any technological device wirelessly.'

As you can see, my 'cousin', a female, Freedom Fighter, whom is a species of cat, and also resided in a palmtop computer, is none other than Nicole Lynx." Metallic ranted, causing Nicole herself to gasp. "Since it is apparent that neither the doctor or Nicole herself were aware of this, I presume she erased his memory of it, had him send her to the past of her zone, which just so happens to splinter off from ours, where she would encounter Sally, and then erase her own memories of it. And to think that Naugus has been hurting her all this time. Disgraceful. And one cannot pin the blame on any other than him. Another file, detailing a conversation between Naugus and Eggman. shows that he caused the people's animosity, amplifying and accentuating their fear of Nicole, to turn it into something he could exploit. On top of that, he is responsible for the injury of Antoine D'Coolette, and the attempt on the life of the Acorn family. The same file has this to say:

That old fool Naugus was even kind enough to tell me when the true king will be leaving the city, and what route he will take! I can dispatch Mecha Sally and Metal Sonic to kill them as they go, and maybe take out a few Freedom Fighters along the way! To think those half-witted saps put their faith in him the moment he arrived… I think they were smarter when my counterpart had them as mindless slaves!'

So, as you can see, you are being led by a monster, and kept away from peace and happiness by him. However, our doors are wide open, any time that you so desire them to be. With your help, I will eradicate all traces of Eggman and of Naugus. Thank you for your time, and I hope we will see you in the new dawn."

The TV shut itself off again, leaving all those present in Freedom HQ staring at it with shock.

"Mommy…" Cream spoke up after a few seconds. "Is Princess Sally telling the truth about being a robot?"  
"Oh, hell no." Fiona replied, stepping forward before Sonic could stop her. "She's brainwashed and crazy, just like she was before. Metallix just put the emotion back in her voice. There's no way that he's a kind and benevolent ruler. He kicked the crap out of us. Only reason I'm not missing some limbs and teeth is because Tails kept saving me. And Tails might lose his right arm after that."

Team Freedom stared at Fiona, somewhat surprised to see her, but after the announcement, it was a pleasant surprise. All of them except for Nicole got up to welcome her back. The lynx, however, just stared at her hands, ignoring the fact that her toga now displayed a 'No Signal' message.

"I… I was the best friend of… my world's Sally… and he… he… did that to me… And now… I'm just a computer… I… I made myself forget to stop myself from going mad… I made myself forget about my psychic powers… so that I wouldn't brainwash everyone into living boring, carefree lives… And now they know that I was made by Eggman… they'll never trust me again…"

Sonic walked over to Nicole, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hugging her gently.  
"Of course they will. They just got shown the biggest example of how not even beings created by Eggman will serve him, they know you've fought for them against Eggman, and they know that their hatred is just Naugus manipulating them, something that you yourself have the power to free them from. And anyway, you'll have nothing to worry about soon."  
"Why...?"  
"'Cause you're going to help me save Sal. You're just the kind of help we need to bring her back to normal. Mentally, anyway."  
"I'll… I'll do it. I need a way up there, though."  
"Ooh, that's a problem. Metallix can assimilate or brainwash, or do something with tech. He did it to Sal, and he made T-Pup and Auto-Fi go nuts with some kind of signal."  
"Sally has protected me from outside influence." Nicole stated. "The method of transport is the problem, though."  
"Oh, I think I have something in mind…" Rotor grinned, opening the door to his lab.


	6. Chapter 6

The Rise of the Metallix: Chapter 6- Preparation

As the Freedom Fighters took the time to get to grips with Metallix's speech, Rotor lead Nicole down into the lab, heading for the end of it. There, he pulled a tarpaulin off of a figure on a table, revealing it to be what looked like a grey Robian lynx, lying inert on the table. Nicole gasped, placing her hands over her mouth.

"Tails and I have been working on it for a while. It's not finished fully, but it runs fine. You should be able to use it to decent effect. With its systems, you'll have your full-power firewall, a few weapons, and your wireless hacking abilities boosted slightly." Rotor explained, preparing the droid for activation. Nicole allowed her hologram to fade from hard light to a standard translucent one, which then vanished. The robot lynx twitched, its systems powering up, and a pair of bright green lights shining in its optics.

* * *

Meanwhile, the five remaining members of the Council of Acorn had arrived at the royal palace, only to be stopped by the guards.  
"We're sorry, but you cannot go in." The first, a white-furred tiger stated.  
"But we have to see the king about the announcement!" Penelope replied.  
"King Naugus is not accepting any visitors," The other, an orange ox replied.  
"But it is the king's duty to hold audiences with his council." Rosemary pointed out.  
"Yes." Boomed another voice, causing the councillors and the guards to turn around, shocked, seeing a tall figure standing in the shade of a tree, its eyes glowing crimson. It stepped into the light, revealing itself to be Metallix. "I too believed that to be the case. But as I stated: Ixis Naugus is a fraud and a liar. He has probably hidden himself away to try and find a way to assassinate more members of the true royal family. And since Sally is my queen, I cannot let that happen."

"What are you doing here?" Hamlin stepped forward, scowling, only for Metallix to lay a hand on his shoulder, making him stop short, and freeze with fright.  
"I, like you, require a meeting with your king. I simply wish to settle whether he will surrender, or if he will drag your fair city into war. Alas, it seems he has neither the heart nor the stomach to face me. I will have to see him another time. A crying shame, really. And Mrs. Prower, your son was quite badly hurt during his escape. He grabbed one of my feet as the engine fired, and, well, he'll likely lose his arm. Please, give him my condolences." Metallix said, stepping away and taking off, soaring back to the Death Egg, which now hovered only a few miles away.

Rosemary watched him go, her mind trying to process the information, before she turned to the others.  
"I have to go and see Tails. Keep me posted." She told them. Charles nodded, and the vixen ran off, heading for the hospital.

* * *

At Freedom HQ, Sonic and Nicole were seated at a table, preparing for their raid on the Death Egg, when a golden ring appeared in the air next to them. It widened, a portal shimmering in the middle of it, out of which stepped Knuckles.

"Oh, hey Knux." Sonic greeted, getting up from his seat. "Finally decided to do something, 'eh?"  
"Vector picked up the transmission that robot guy sent. You need help with this one." The echidna stated, brushing off the remark.  
"You're right. We need to get the people out of here." Sonic said, throwing and catching a synthetic Emerald in his hand. "He can hack tech in seconds. Everything that isn't edible or drinkable in this city as made of nanomachines. We're sitting on a huge-ass armoury for him."  
"And you think Angel Island is a good place for the people to go?"  
"Yeah. It's huge, safe, out of Metallix's way. It's perfect. And we're within reach of the Master Emerald if we need it for anything, not to mention that this whole king debate would be void, since we wouldn't even be in the country anymore, and that would be a weight of Sal and Elias' minds."

Knuckles stroked his chin thoughtfully. True- he didn't much like being bothered by others, but then again, if he could put up with Charmy, and Espio and Mighty squabbling, then he could handle civilians. Sonic and the other Freedom Fighters had also pulled his fat out of the fryer on numerous occasions, and he definitely owed them.

"OK, I think I can handle that. What about the ones on life support in the hospital, though?"  
"The life support machines and beds locked together, and the machine is powered by its own synthetic Emerald shard. It doesn't need mains power."  
"I get it. How are we going to get them there, though?"  
"Star Posts and Warp Rings. You supervise the latter, keep them all going to the same place. Rotor can get the Star Posts running."  
"Right. I'll get to work on that. Anything else?"  
"Metallix is bringing his robot versions of us. If one of them tries to stop the evacuation, destroy it. Now, go start immediately."  
"Will do." Knuckles grinned, and left.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the hospital, Rosemary ran towards the door, not looking where she was going, and as a result, ran into something, or rather, someone. Both of them were knocked back slightly, the other one letting out a yelp. Rosemary looked down slightly to see Fiona, now clad in her trademark yellow and white bodysuit and matching boots and gloves, but with a white jacket over the top. She bristled at first, remembering Fiona as the girl who had hurt her son, before she remembered the announcement, seeing Auto-Fiona claiming credit for 'Fiona's' actions, and realised that there was no way that the vixen before her was responsible for hurting Tails.

"Sorry, Ma'am." The red vixen said, noticing the royal blue uniform. While the older vixen looked familiar to her, she didn't know why, and she scratched her head with confusion at the thought.  
"It was my fault in the first place." Rosemary said, holding out her hand, which Fiona accepted, allowing her fellow vixen to help her up. "I should be the one apologizing."  
"It's quite alright, Mrs… um…"  
"Prower. Rosemary Prower."

Fiona's eyes widened, and her grip on Rosemary's hand grew stronger.  
"Tails' Mom?"  
"Yes."  
"Oh, that's where I remember you from!" She exclaimed. "Tails had a photo of you and your husband in his hut in Knothole! I saw it at his birthday party. It's nice to finally meet you."  
"It's nice to meet the real you, Fiona Fox. I saw fleeting glimpses of the imposter. She was always sneaking off to places, presumably to meet with that disgusting Scourge."  
"Thanks. Are you here to see Tails too?"  
"Of course. I'll take you in with me. They'll probably let us both in."

Fiona beamed, and allowed Rosemary to lead her into the building, up to the front desk.  
"Visitors for Miles Prower?" Rosemary requested.  
"Of course, Councillor Rosemary. He's set to be discharged shortly. I'm sure he'll still be happy to see you." The receptionist, an aging male terrier replied. He's in the Freedom Fighters' ward."  
"Thank you." Rosemary said, as the two vixens headed into the maze of corridors to find the ward.

"The Freedom Fighters have their own ward?" Fiona asked, as she followed Rosemary.  
"Yes, so they can be patched up quickly and get back on their feet. It's used for easily treatable injuries."  
"But his arm got fireballed by a rocket engine of some sort! That's hardly a minor injury!"  
"For Tails it is. He heals a lot faster than others, due to his powers, and he designed all of the prosthetics in use today. If he has indeed lost his arm, which I hope he hasn't, then he'll already be up and about."  
"Oh, right. Makes sense, I guess."

They walked the rest of the way in relative silence, until the find the door. Rosemary squirted some sanitizer from the dispenser on the wall into her hands, and rubbed it in. Fiona removed her gloves and followed suit, before heading inside.

Tails had his back to them, and was making the bed he had been sitting in, all the while arguing with a matron, this one a female cardinal. As they drew near, it became clear to see that his right arm was now replaced with a smooth, molded cybernetic one, the alloy gold in colour, with a blue light glowing at the shoulder.  
"Miss, your colleagues healed my injuries. It's the least I can do to repay your kind service." He said politely. Fiona and Rosemary restrained themselves enough to cast amused glances at each other.  
"Mr Prower, you provided your own prosthetic, and healed the remaining damage with your Chaos powers. All we did was-"  
"Knock me out and graft the required joint and support into my shoulder, then attach the arm itself. Aaaand… done." He turned around, and instantly found himself being hugged by both vixens. "Whoa!"

The cardinal smiled, and walked away, giving them space, as Tails embraced them both, smiling.  
"I'm glad you're okay, Tails." Fiona said softly. "After I saw what he did to your arm, I was worried the burns would get infected, or worse, or you'd heal, but be in constant pain, or-"

"You didn't need to worry, Fiona." Tails comforted her, relaxing the hug, and placing a finger on Fiona's lips. "I was going to lose the arm no matter what, and we have great cybernetics." He wrapped his other arm around her shoulders, causing her too blush vividly, but released her and turn to face his mother. "How did you find out, Mom? Communication's not exactly in a good state at the moment right now, with all the panic and turmoil. How did the message get through?"  
"It didn't. I found out from that robot, Metallix. He came here, trying to meet with Naugus, just as we were, but Naugus isn't letting anyone into the castle now. He told me about your condition, and asked me to give you his condolences. Personally, I don't think he was being honest about it, but I thought I'd tell you, just in case."  
"Oh, right. Weird."  
"Indeed. Speaking of weird, your arm isn't like the other prosthetics I've seen. Why is that?"

"Oh, that's quite simple." Tails replied with a grin. "I built it myself, in case something like this happened. It's modified to help me focus and manipulate my natural Chaos Energy. It can also channel it into one of two outlets, neither of which I can show you in hear, but one of them is a blade, and the other is a gun. So effectively, I made myself a Chaos Spear cannon, with a sword attached for close-combat stuff."  
"Wow." Rosemary and Fiona said as one.  
"Thanks." Tails grinned. "Now, Amy checked out earlier, my arm is reattached, and I have a sense that things are going to kick off again very soon, with that announcement and Metallix coming into the city himself. We should probably get moving."  
"Yeah, I want to be ready to give that fake me what she deserves!" Fiona added, as the trio started to leave the room, only for the TV to switch itself on again. They turned around, watching to see if Metallix had decided to address them again, but were surprised to see Sonic on the screen.

"OK." He began, clearing his throat. "I'm not too good at this whole 'public address' thing, Sally normally takes care of it, but this can't wait for me and Nicole to rescue her. It was with a heavy heart that I have to inform you, that as acting leader of the Freedom Fighters, I am calling for an immediate evacuation of the city, effective as soon as this feed stops. As much as I love this city, and I have fought my hardest for it, it is simply not safe to stay here. Metallix can assimilate technology in seconds, that's the deal with the liquid metal thing, and everything in this city is made of nanites. Before, the shield would have protected us, but thanks to the decision by so-called King Naugus to exile Nicole, no-one was around to maintain our defences, and the shield generator is out of action. We don't have time to repair it, either, and even then, I doubt it would last long against the full firepower of the Death Egg. As such, we will have to leave if we want to survive.

Transports have been lined up at the northern and western gates, which will take you to Knothole. There, you will be guided to either one of six Warp Rings, or the Star Posts. Stepping through any of these portals will take us to a new sanctuary on Angel Island, out of Metallix's grip. I am sorry we have had to resort to such drastic measures, but I don't see another option, even after consulting both Rotor and Nicole. Metallix was strong enough to overpower myself, Tails, Fiona, and Amy alone. With backup, and the whole city on his side, we don't have a hope of defeating him. Please, gather the essentials you have- including all of your savings, and either make your way to the transports or Knothole itself. The Freedom Fighters will slow Metallix down, and retreat once everyone is through the portals. Transports depart in forty-five minutes. Remain calm, and head for the extraction points. Thanks."

The video feed died, and Tails looked at his mother and friend, a grimace set on his face.  
"Mom, I want you to find Dad, tell him that I'm okay, and go to Knothole. I'm staying here to repel the invaders. If I know Sonic, he'll launch a direct offensive against the Death Egg itself, to try and rescue Sally. Someone has to lead the ground forces, and it's probably me." He told Rosemary. She nodded, and hugged her son tightly, which he returned.  
"Stay safe."  
"I will." He promised, as she released him, and left, the matron following her, leaving Tails and Fiona alone. "Are you going to stay as well?"

"Of course. I'm not going to let them take this city without a fight!" She smirked confidently.  
"Right." The male fox nodded, before he started to blush, taking hold of her hands and staring into her eyes. "Then there's something… something that I need to tell you, in case one of us doesn't make it through this. Something that I've wanted to tell you for a long time, ever since I first met and grew to know you."  
"W-what are you talking about, T-Tails?" Fiona stuttered, blushing herself.  
"Fiona, I'm… I'm in love with you." Tails confessed, his cheeks turning scarlet- if they weren't already. Fiona stared at him, her mouth hanging open.

"Tails… I… I love you too." She replied, barely a whisper. Tails smiled, and pulled Fiona into a tight embrace, kissing her passionately, as he ran his hands over her curves, and coiled his namesakes around her petite frame. Eventually, they parted, short of breath, and smiled at each other.

"Now then…" Tails began, releasing his girlfriend, and transforming his lower right arm into a gleaming laser cannon. "Let's get out there, and give those robotic creeps hell!"  
"Right behind you." Fiona smiled, opening her jacket to reveal an inactive energy shortsword, and a sizeable handgun hanging off a belt that wound around her midriff.


	7. Chapter 7

The Rise of the Metallix: Chapter 7- Storm the Castle

On the bridge of the Death Egg, Mecha Sally and Auto-Fiona were discussing tactics for the latter to employ during her role in the attack on the city, when the door opened with a hiss, and Metallix walked in.  
"It seems 'King' Naugus is a coward. He will not even allow his council into the palace." He announced, heading over to the two fembots.  
"Master, Sonic has ordered an evacuation of the city. He fears that you will use the nanites to your own ends, and turn the entire city against them." Mecha Sally informed him. He smirked slightly.  
"It would seem that he is less of an idiot than he makes himself out to be. Nevertheless, there is still a peaceful way to get into the palace, one that requires you, Auto."  
"Me? Really? Because I still can't see why we can't fry the place."  
"We will not fry it because we want to give the image of a benevolent group of charitable people. Your purpose is quite simple. I want you to bring me this man." The robotic hedgehog projected an image of a male skunk from his optics. "His name is Geoffrey St. John. He is Naugus' apprentice. If anyone can get me in there, it's him."  
"Why would he do that, though?"

"Because I have something of his, and I should imagine he will want it back. And besides, if he refuses to comply…" Metallix's body melted, reshaping itself as Geoffrey. "Well, there's always plan B."  
"And you're not doing that straight off, because…?"  
"Auto, Auto, Auto. " He said, placing his hands on her shoulders and shifting back to his own form. "If I did that while he was still running around down there, then I would run the risk of him revealing my deception. After all, I doubt I can act like him flawlessly."  
"Right. Well, I'll go get him." The robotic vixen confirmed, heading for the door.  
"Thank you."

* * *

In the city itself, people were streaming for the exits, all except for the Freedom Fighters, and one other- that being Geoffrey St. John himself. The skunk was heading towards the palace. Metallix's announcement, and the things he had revealed about Naugus and Nicole had disturbed him. He had always been proud of his steadfast loyalty to the crown, but Naugus was, as he was now realising, a less than stellar example of a king. He found himself wondering- Was the ancient hybrid really worth his loyalty? Was it really worth betraying his friends and colleagues for? Was it really worth taking advantage of the people's fear of a sweet-natured and mostly-harmless young girl? Was it really worth lying to his wife about?

"Geoffrey St. John?" Asked a sharp, female voice. The skunk whirled around to see Auto-Fiona walking towards him. She was flanked by two Metal Sonic-esque robots. They had straight, upward-pointing quills, lacked the mouth of their creator, the standard cobalt armour with white markings, contrasted by crimson optics, a matching red orb in their chests, and white forearms and forelegs.  
"Yes?" He replied, though it wasn't really necessary. She smirked, and held up her hand, as the two robots stepped forward, their right hands retracting, and being replaced by guns.  
"We're going to have to ask you to come with us."  
"I don't really have a say in the matter, do I?"  
"Nope." She smiled. "Take him."

One of the robots remained where it stood, point its gun at him. The other reverted its arm to normal, and locked a pair of cuffs around Geoffrey's wrists. It then grabbed him, and hefted him over its shoulder, flying up and towards the Death Egg. The other wrapped an arm around Auto's waist, and allowed her to do the same with its shoulder, before it too took to the air.

* * *

In one of the corridors of the Death Egg, a flash of light and small burst of sound echoed, heralding the arrival of Sonic and Nicole. Sonic dropped the synthetic Emerald into his backpack, and looked down at the radar device Rotor had provided him with, then over his shoulder at the lynx robot.

"We're not as close to the bridge as I would have liked. In fact, we're pretty close to the cells. Considering that we'll have to stick together, I'm going to be going more slowly, so we're going to have to fight our way through robots and Legionnaires. You okay with that?" He asked, considered. Nicole, still slightly giddy with delight at her new form, smiled at him. A sword pushed out of her left arm, and her right transformed into a gun. Her feet hummed, and fired the engines hidden inside, lifting her off the ground.  
"I can handle it. Now, let's save Sally, and get out of here."  
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Sonic revved up, and took off, running at a light jog through the corridors, with Nicole flying along behind him.

As Sonic thought, they soon had a fight on their hands- a pair of the new Metal Sonic soldiers. They turned and started firing at Sonic as he approached, their guns spitting out red blasts of energy. He ducked and weaved, leaping over the blasts and locking himself on to the first one. He pushed himself to his maximum, energy surrounding his body and forming a protective shield- or a lightning-fast battering ram. The hedgehog powered into the first Metal Sonic, and shattered its armour with the force of the impact alone. The robot sailed through the air, colliding with the wall and madly damaging its spark, which promptly exploded, killing it and leaving a large black mark on the wall.

Nicole, meanwhile, found that she was being ignored, the second Metal Sonic flying straight past her and heading for Sonic himself. She was puzzled, before she worked out that Metallix would not know that she had a body, and thus would not have programmed the machines to register her as a threat in their current environment. Were they in the city, they would have attacked her, but since they weren't she simply smiled, and aimed her gun at the android's head. It was hovering now, staying in place as it fired at the wildly dodging Sonic, which gave her a perfect shot. She fired, and blew a large hole in its head, leaving it to drop to the floor.

"Those things looked like the Metal that saved me and Tails at Mount Mobius." Sonic mused, as the dup sped off again. Nicole thought for a second- they had looked familiar, and she now knew why. Picturing one with black armour, golden markings, and the orb in the chest being a purple gem, and it would look just like Shard. Metallix must have seen the robot during the Secret Freedom Fighters' battle with the Metal Series team a few days ago, and used his design as reference. She would have to tell Harvey later, but for now, it wasn't particularly important.

* * *

In the cells, Geoffrey sat, staring at the wall. The area was well-lit for a prison, and the standard fold-out panel for a bed had been replaced with an actual bed, that was moderately comfortable. Still, the windows were barred up, and two of the robotic hedgehogs stood outside of his door. It wasn't long, however, before he heard the sound of metal feet clanking against the floor, drawing ever nearer to him, until he saw Metallix himself appear in the doorway. He opened the door, and stepped inside, heading over to the skunk, and crouching to look him in the eye.

"Welcome to the Death Egg, Mr. St John." He said, smiling.  
"Thank you, I guess. I can see you're less arrogant than your predecessor. Reinforced the bar with Morganite to make it resilient to Chaos-based magics? Making it well-lit so that the areas of darkness are too small for me to shadowmelt? You've done your research."  
"It pays to know thy enemies. Not that we have to _be_ enemies."  
"You have declared war on the king. Of course we're enemies."  
"Look at the state of your city." Metallix shot back. "The people are leaving, heading for Angel Island, and the city itself is about to become mine. It has fallen apart, and I am taking over. A new age is dawning, the age of the Robians. This realm will belong to them, and _I_ will be the ruler, with the legitimate Princess of this falling land standing by my side as I rise."

"And what does that have to do with me?" Geoffrey asked.  
"An excellent question. I need to get to Naugus, and you will be the one to get me there."  
"Why should I? What's in it for me?"  
"Your bargaining postures are… less than amazing, but I had planned for just such an eventuality, and spent a day or two completing that plan, so I'll explain anyway. I have found something very interesting, and I thought you would like to get your hands on it. Or rather, her." Metallix answered, holding out a small tablet. Geoffrey took it, and gasped at what he saw on the screen.

"H-h-h-h-Hersh?" He stuttered, barely able to comprehend what he was seeing, because there, right before his eyes, was an unconscious Hershey St. John, lying on a bed in one of the Death Egg crew's living quarters. Her arms, legs, and left shoulder were all replaced with cybernetics, but she was very much alive.  
"Indeed, and she's all yours, provided that you comply with my request." The android explained warmly. However, Geoffrey dropped the tablet onto his bed, and stood up. Ixis energy flared up around his hands, and he glared at his captor.

"You're going to keep her from me if I refuse? Or until I decide to comply?" He snarled.  
"That's the way these deals work, my organic friend."  
"No. No way. I want her back right now, or else!"  
"Or else what? You are hardly in a position to make threats." Metallix warned, standing up to his full height.  
"You have locked yourself in here with me, and I have a mastery of Ixis magic, with which I am far more powerful than my ranking suggests."

Metallix rolled his optics, stepping forward and gripping Geoffrey's torso with his foot, before lifting him up and slamming him into the floor.  
"Do you feel powerful? Lying there, alone, your very ability to breathe resting on my mercy, and me resistance to the temptation to fire my jets, when I am the being that defeated Sonic and his team without issue, all within a mere few minutes?" Metallix said, only for the voice of Auto-Fiona to fill his audio sensors before the skunk could respond.

"Master, the hedgehog is here, he has a robot lynx with him, and he's almost at the bridge. He's probably after Empress Sally. We've thrown everything we can at him, but he won't stop, no matter what. I know you didn't want to be disturbed during business, but we need your assistance." She stated, before clicking off.  
"Hmmm… it seems you have had a reprieve, St. John. I will leave you here to contemplate your options, while I do a little… pest control. Try not to disappoint me. You would not want to outlive your usefulness to my cause." He warned, heading to the door. "Remember, it is your choice whether you stay with Naugus and stand amidst the embers of your dying age, or you take my offer, and you and your wife walk forward into a golden era of peace."

With that, the robot was gone. Geoffrey picked up the tablet again, and stared at the picture. Tears began to roll down his cheeks, and he closed his eyes and let his head drop.  
"Oh Hershey…" He muttered. "Forgive me…"

* * *

Meanwhile, Sonic and Nicole were charging through the corridors still. They had come to the realisation that the Metal Sonic soldiers typically travelled in groups of two, and while their defences were pitiful, Nicole had discovered that they packed quite a punch, after she had caught a shot from one of their guns with her stomach and made a rather large dent in the wall, having been thrown the length of a corridor.  
_"Makes sense."_ Sonic had reasoned, as he pulled her to her feet. _"They're based on me. Anyone who's fought me can tell you- in normal circumstances, I can't take much damage without passing out."_ Nicole found herself wondering what it meant for Shard, but dismissed it for now.

They now found themselves entering a final stretch of corridor, leading to the bridge. Whoever was in charge of the defences had pulled out all of the stops. Four pairs of Metal Sonics, and ten autoturrets. Nicole held out her hand, stopping Sonic from charging in, and reached out mentally, forcing her way into the processors of four of the turrets and two of the Metal Sonics. Instantly, they turned and opened fire on their own allies. The ones that remained untouched fired back, as Nicole used her newfound skill with a gun to snipe the opposing turrets, and destroy another two of the Metals, before her own meagre forces were finished off. Then she leaned around the corner herself, and fired on the Metals. They flew forward, firing back, one getting a blast through the chest and exploding, damaging the systems of the one next to it and causing it to careen into a wall. Nicole promptly descended on it, and sliced off its head with her sword, as Sonic shot forward and homed himself in on the closest living bot, slamming its dented skull into the ground and cracking it, critically damaging its processor. Sonic hadn't even broken stride, bouncing to the last robot and driving his foot through the black visor which made up its optics.

"You're good with those weapons, Nicole."  
"I think Rotor programmed my body with the aptitude for them."  
"I see. Well, let's go." Sonic encouraged, as they walked through the door.

Inside, it was much the same as the first time. The difference was that Metallix was standing and waiting for them, his arms folded. Auto-Fiona was also missing, but Mecha Sally was nearby, her blades extended.

"Welcome back, Sonic. And greetings, Nicole. It's nice to see that you have a body now. I do, however, expect that like before, this will not be a civil encounter."  
"You've got that right, tin grin." Sonic growled, as he started to rev up his legs.  
"Then it was unwise to only bring yourself and one other." Metallix stated, flicking his cloak off of his shoulders and drawing his blades. "Oh, so unwise." He fired his jets, launching towards Sonic, whom responded as expected by shooting forward, glowing with Chaos Energy.


	8. Chapter 8

The Rise of the Metallix: Chapter 8- Paying one's dues.

Metallix brought his blades down towards Sonic's skull, but the hedgehog swerved out of the way, and barrelled into the robot's gut, knocking him back slightly, before zipping backwards, out of range. He watched as his foe moved slowly forward, swords starting to whirl, until he was almost in striking distance with them. At that point, he sprang into motion again, firing off his signature homing attack and striking the android in the forehead, landing on the other side and running out of range, this time not stopping, and charging straight up the wall and along the ceiling, until he was right above his target. He jumped, diving down at full speed, letting gravity push him further.

Metallix didn't try to dodge. He flew straight up as Sonic curled into a spinning ball of diamond-hard, razor-edged spines, and, just as they drew level, swung both of his blades into the ball, sending it spearing across the room and into a wall. The blue hedgehog slid down it and crashed to the ground, as he landed, and walked towards him.  
"I understand your logic, flawed though it may be." He said, as he pressed his foot down on Sonic's back, the heat of the engine nuzzle scorching his skin. "You expected to fare better due to your experience with my abilities in our previous battle. You did not, however, take into account the fact that you lack the strength, _the power_ needed to defeat me. You have made a mistake, Sonic, and now, I am going to finish you. I am going to break you. I am going to dismember you. And then, when you lie in pieces on the floor, only kept alive by the power of the Chaos Force, then I will kill you."

Sonic opened his eyes, and saw that his synthetic Emerald had fallen from his backpack during the attack. It was all he currently needed- something to give him the edge. Grinning, he took hold of it, feeling its energy rush into his form, healing his injuries and launching him to peak condition. His eyes glowed brightly, and he snapped his gingers, triggering a miniature blast that threw Metallix off of him. He stood, discarding his backpack, and circling, as Metallix landed on his feet without trouble.  
"It ain't gonna be that easy, metalmouth."  
"Most impressive." Metallix praised, rushing forward and swinging with both swords. Sonic dodged the slashes, ducking, weaving, backpedalling, and flipping over the strikes, yet found that there was never a breather. He was always in motion, since, despite his size, bulk, and limitations, Metallix was much faster than he looked. Getting hit by even one of the slashes would spell certain death for him. He needed to attack, to knock his foe down, or at least disarm him, and thankfully, he held the perfect tool.

Snapping his fingers, Sonic engaged a Chaos Control, freezing time and throwing the room into a photo–negative, as Tails had done before. Taking note of the positions of the swords, Sonic began to run laps of the bridge, picking up speed as he went. Already he was pushing two-hundred, and all he needed to do was reach twice that. Another lap went by- two-fifty. Another, another after that, and finally he reached four-hundred, angling his body perfectly, he charged straight for Metallix's front, unfreezing time at the moment of impact.

The cobalt android was hurled across the room, as Sonic himself stepped back, reeling slightly from the blow. Metallix crashed headlong into the wall, his armour rippling and flowing back into shape, as Sonic once again took note of the positions of the swords, which had been knocked out of his grip during the attack. One was embedded in the wall next to the robot, who was now reaching for it. The other, however, had spun off, and was lying on the floor, inactive. He pondered for a second- his skills with a blade were rudimentary at best, but he needed something that could block the other sword, and it would stop Metallix from having both of them.

However, he had no time to plan further, as Metallix was already upon him, chopping downwards with his remaining sword. Sonic dove out of the way, rolled to slow himself, and grabbed the hilt of the fallen weapon. He steadied himself, using both hands, and ignited the blade, a long, red, curved blade springing to life. Metallix smiled dryly, and pointed his sword at Sonic.  
"Well played, Sonic. Now, en garde!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Nicole lunged for cover, throwing herself down behind a console as a large red beam swept past her. She peered over the top at the source, Mecha Sally, who was hovering midair, and activated her own gun, firing two shots at her possessed friend. The Robian squirrel smirked, and folded her beam cannons away, replacing them with her blades, which she used to deflect the gunfire. She started to dive, shooting towards Nicole. The lynx robot fired more volleys, but Mecha Sally swerved around them. Realising what was about to happen, Nicole flipped out her own sword, and exchanged her gun for another one, before starting up her own engines. As the Robian tore through the console, and rocketed back into the air, Nicole followed, her engines already at full power. Mecha Sally scowled, dropping away from a slash and jabbing her blades forward. Nicole held her weapons together, allowing them to go between her friend-turned-enemy's attack, and then spread them out, stopping her from doing any damage.

Cutting her engines, Mecha Sally fell to the ground, and Nicole followed, slashing downwards as she fell. The Robian jumped to the side, then sidestepped a cut from her foe's right sword, which she then pinned with her own right. Nicole gasped, unable to move her left arm around to attack, while the squirrel freely slashed with her own, cutting a large tear in or her chestplate as she pulled away. The lynx was thankful she had- otherwise she may well have pierced her spark.

Mecha Sally pressed the offensive again, swinging down with both blades, which the lynx-robot blocked with both of hers. Neither of them were in a steady enough position to employ their feet, so they stood firm, pressing against each other. Seizing the chance, Nicole reached out mentally, trying to gain access to Sally's mind, but found herself only receiving a painful jolt, as if she had just ran at full speed into a wall. Mecha Sally laughed, grinning at her former friend.  
"There's no way you can hack me, Nicole." She giggled, using the momentary shock to push Nicole away and kick her down. "Nothing can break my mental defences."

'_But there has to be!_' Nicole thought. '_Metallix got inside her head, and changed her from Eggman's slave to his own! There has to be a way past that shiny metal… shell… That's it! The shell! It came from Metallix himself! He had physical contact with her!_'

Nicole looked up at her only ally in this raid- whom was now locking blades with Metallix, and folded her swords away, and activated her guns, rolling over and shooting the surprised Mecha Sally, point-blank in the face. It hurled her back, and carried her in an arc, leaving her to clatter to the floor, dazed. Already, Nicole was leaping towards her, and already, the liquid metal was re-covering the squirrel robot's head. Just as her efforts seemed like they would be for nothing, Nicole pressed her finger against Mecha Sally's forehead, bridging the gap, and firing her consciousness down into her friend's mind.

* * *

Sally's mind was not what Nicole would have visualised. In fact, it looked a lot like the city of Knothole, before its destruction by Eggman. Everything was clean and gleaming, but had a stark, regular grid of light covering it, glowing a malevolent red. Despite this, Nicole found herself drawn to a statue of the Freedom Fighter team that had operated from there- Sonic, Tails, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, Fiona, Amy, herself, and, naturally, Sally. She couldn't help but notice that the Sonic and Sally figures were pressed together, the former's left arm wrapped around the latter's waist, with a ring sculpted onto its finger, and the Sword of Light in its right hand. Then she looked down at herself, and realised that she was no longer a grey-shelled robot copy of a lynx, but an actual one, clad in her standard toga.

"They say that one's mind represents their perfect world." A familiar, yet distorted voice spoke up, and Nicole whirled around to see Mecha Sally approaching. The Robian now had a lot more jagged edges, and a sharp-edged emblem of a the head of a mechanical dragon on her shoulder. She had sharp fangs, visible when she opened her mouth, and long, pointed talons on her fingers. Her feet were very similar to Metallix's- four separate toes attached to an engine- and her 'hair' was longer, probably benefitting from the liquid metal. Behind her, she was dragging the chained-up, unconscious figure of the real Sally, her jacket and boots torn slightly, her fur dirty and messy- blood trickling from her mouth, and in her other hand, she carried a hand-held variant of one of her swords, though this one was glowing red. "I, however, disagree. After all, it doesn't suit me at all."

"That's because this isn't your mind." Nicole growled, a lookalike of her own blade appearing in her hand. "It's Sally's, and you're not her!"  
"Look at me, Nicole. I am Sally now. This waste of oxygen should simply be left to expire, while I take her body for myself."  
"What makes you think that I would ever allow that?"  
"How about the fact that in here, I rule all?" Mecha Sally taunted, as Nicole's feet began to melt into the floor, and her blade turned into a wooden toy sword.  
"Crap. She had to pick the city where I can't control everything."

Mecha Sally grinned, and lifted her helpless counterpart's chin up with her finger, making sure to leave a cut with her talon.  
"You just sit tight, my weak little sister. I'll be back to finish destroying what remains of you before your very eyes just as soon as I've had your little pet… _put down_." She commanded, more to mock the squirrel's inability to do anything than for anything else, and threw her to the ground, before turning and ambling towards Nicole. "Here, kitty-kitty-kitty." She whispered, as she approached, placed her hand on Nicole's shoulder, then drove her other fist into her gut, knocking the wind out of her.

"You… you aren't like this in reality…" The lynx wheezed, gasping for air.  
"Oh, I am, I just don't get a chance to exhibit my more bloodthirsty side."  
"But then, why weren't you like it when you fought me out there?"  
"Because your body was mechanical. Nowhere near as satisfying. However, in here, in the old Sally's perfect world, you're organic. Soft and squishy, and perfect for my little games. And the best part is that, because we are merely figments of her imagination, you'll stay alive until either you are completely destroyed, or she forgets about you. And if I do succeed in destroying you, she forgets about you anyway. But I digress. Point is that you are as weak and pathetic, as any organic, except you can live through stuff like this!" Mecha Sally explained, before she lifted her sword and slashed downwards, severing both of Nicole's legs, just above the knee. The lynx screamed as she fell to the floor, though oddly more out of shock than pain. In fact, she could barely feel anything, let alone the expected searing pain.

Still grinning mercilessly, the Robian aimed a kick at Nicole's side, but she rolled out of the way, releasing her grip on the toy weapon as she went. The grin faltered slightly, but she stepped forward and stomped on the feline's stomach- though again, she felt nothing.  
"You'll have to try harder." Nicole spluttered, spitting up blood. "I can barely feel you."  
"Yes, that's one of the drawbacks. The last thing she did before I broke her was send everyone's pain thresholds through the stratosphere, so I wouldn't be able to physically torture anyone that came to save her."  
"You don't have it as good in here as you want me to think, do you?" Nicole smiled. "Your victims can't feel what you are doing to them, and if you manage to kill someone, then Sally forgets about them and doesn't have to live with the pain of losing someone she cares about."

Mecha Sally scowled, and grabbed Nicole by her throat, hurling her over her shoulder. The legless lynx skidded to a halt near to Sally. She hadn't moved since her counterpart had dropped her, and she stared at Nicole with dull eyes. Still, Nicole's mind was already running. If this was all maintained by Sally imagining it, and she had the ability to psychically alter memories… She didn't have time to do anything complicated, like make her forget Mecha Sally's sadistic side, but she might be able to fix things. She reached out, and gently touched her friend's mind.  
'_Your wounds are gone. There are no chains binding you. You are free. You are in control._' She told her. Mecha Sally must have seen what she was doing, because she howled with rage, and leapt forward, cutting Nicole's gut open with her talons, and raising her sword over her head. However, as she brought it down, a neon blue shield enveloped the organic, and the sword bounced off harmlessly.

"NO!" She screeched, as Sally stood up, her injuries and bindings gone, and her body glowing slightly. "This isn't possible! You were broken! Dying! Destroyed!"  
"You're another side of me." Sally shot back, the Sword of Acorns appearing in her hand. "You should have known that there was always a chance I would come back. You should have known that my friends would never give up on me. That they would find a way, because that's what they do. Even without me to make the plans, they fought hard, and Nicole found a way."

Mecha Sally backed away, as the forcefield around Nicole faded, and the young lynx reappeared, all of the damage done to her reversed. She stood up, and walked over to her friend, as Mecha Sally's feet melted into the floor, as hers had done previously. The red grid faded, as Sally rushed forward, and swung the ancient weapon at her Robian double.  
"**No, I won't let you do this!**" Mecha Sally shrieked, readying her own blade."  
"You don't have a choice." Sally replied, bringing the Sword of Acorns to bear. "Get!" She cut straight through Mecha Sally's weapon. "Out!" She left a deep gash in her stomach. "Of!" She pulled the sword up, severing the Robian's arm. "My!" She ripped open her targets chestplate, grazing her spark and cutting through the Power Ring that surrounded it. **"Head!"**

Finally, Sally brought the sword down, cutting Mecha Sally's head in two, straight down the middle, and kept pulling it down until it sliced cleanly through her spark, blowing the Robian copy apart. As it happened, the sky became much brighter, and the final traces of the grid faded away. The Sword of Acorns vanished, and Sally turned and hugged her friend.  
"Thank you so much." She whispered, tears filling her eyes.  
"It was no problem, compared to the benefits, Sally." Nicole replied, also finding herself becoming rather tearful. "I owed you after you saved me from the Iron Queen. I knew I had to repay you."  
"And you did, a thousandfold. Now, we have to get back to reality."  
"Yes. I'll see you out there."

* * *

Sonic brought his sword up, parrying Metallix's attack, the lashing out and scoring a solid blow to the android's midriff.  
"The combination of speed and a decent weapon is certainly a good one…" Metallix appraised, as he swung again, knocking Sonic's guard aside and kicking him in the chest, sending him crashing into another wall. "But ultimately, you lack the skill necessary to use such a weapon." He walked over, picked Sonic up by the throat, and threw him across the room once more, until he collided with yet another wall. "And you are, as I said, severely short on backup." He pressed his foot down on Sonic's torso again, lowering himself down slightly. "It will be a shame to terminate you before I have witnessed your full power, but I am afraid that you are standing in my way."

Sonic responded by reactivating his blade, and pushing it straight up and into Metallix's chest. He staggered back, allowing Sonic to stand up, as his robotic doppelganger stared at him. The hedgehog exploded into motion, boosting himself into Metallix and knocking him over, only to notice something- Despite the blade stabbing all the way through his armour, the blade was not sticking out of his back.  
Metallix gripped the hilt, and pulled it away from his torso with a slurping sound. He turned it over, and reignited it, once again in complete control of the situation.  
"Thank you, Sonic..." He said sarcastically. "For sealing your own doom." Before he could attack, however, a red beam lanced into his back, knocking him forwards, and both combatants looked over to see the new assailant.

Sally stood, one arm with the blade extended, the other pointing a smoking beam cannon at Metallix. Her optics glowed as blue as her natural eyes, and she glared at her former master, as Nicole stood by her side, her own guns trained on Metallix as well.

"Stay away from him."


	9. Chapter 9

The Rise of the Metallix: Chapter 9- Ultimate

Metallix stared across the chamber at Sally, as she stepped slightly closer to him, her gun warming up again. He deactivated his swords, and reattached them to his hips, before, much to the shock of all present, he smiled, and began to slowly clap.

"Well played, Sonic, Nicole." He stated. "Distract me so that I could not defend Mecha Sally, and then hack into her. Truly masterful." He walked over to his fallen cloak, and picked it up, reattaching it to his shoulders. "You were never trying to defeat me, were you Sonic? I had my suspicions- you weren't nearly as aggressive as you were in our first encounter, for one thing, as you were simply trying to stay alive. Nevertheless, you win this round."

Metallix started to walk out of the room, leaving the trio standing in stunned silence. Well, for a few seconds, anyway. Then Sonic ran over to Sally and swept her off her feet, pressing his lips against hers. She returned the embrace, moaning softly as she felt something real for the first time in several weeks. Contrary to what Sonic was expecting- though not particularly worried about- the skin that Metallix had given Sally made her lips soft and pliable to the touch, and her spark carried warmth through her whole body. She was as lifelike as a Robian could be, something that both were very pleased with. When they finally parted, Sonic put Sally back on her feet, and resumed hugging her.

"I missed you." He whispered, as tears of joy began to roll down his cheeks. "I missed you so much."  
"I'm so sorry, Sonic. I couldn't find another way, and I tried to stop myself from fighting you, but it was too strong."  
"It's okay, Sal. You're safe now, and we just have to get back down there and hold them at bay long enough to get everyone to Angel Island."  
"Right, let's go." Sally nodded, releasing Sonic so that he could fetch his Emerald, as Nicole pulled out her communicator.  
"Tails, we're done here. We'll be back down in a few seconds. All three of us."

* * *

Meanwhile, Metallix had returned to the cell block, smiling to himself.  
'Did they really think I would let them go so easily, with my tactician, and let them take that Emerald with them as well? If so they are less intelligent than I first thought.' He mused, before another, all-too familiar voice spoke up within his mind.

'Evidently so, Master.' Mecha Sally confirmed. 'Or perhaps they were simply so elated to have my counterpart back to her free-thinking self that they were not thinking straight about your motives. But was it really necessary to hand my body over to that sadistic copy and let them rescue it?'  
'Indeed it was, my dear. You see, while you were in that form, it would be a liability. They would forever be coming into our bases and trying to kidnap you. So we let them have what they want, you get a new body of your own, which I _can_ make stronger, much like my own form, and both of us win.'  
'I see, but why not just kill them?'  
'I need them to fight me, so that I can keep myself sharp. Not to mention that they have a history of getting out of ridiculously tight spots. Now, go back to sleep, I have some business to conduct, and the techs are not finished with your new body yet.'  
'Yes Master.' Mecha Sally obeyed, as her voice faded.

Metallix rounded a corner, and entered Geoffrey's cell, where the skunk was still stooped over Hershey's image. He had dried his eyes now, but his fur was still discoloured slightly by tears.  
"Mister St. John." Metallix ventured, keeping his voice quiet, but still harsh. "Have you come to a decision?" He stepped casually over to the skunk, who looked up at him.  
"I'll do it." He admitted, his voice barely a whisper. "For Hershey. Now take me to her."  
"Not yet, my friend."  
"What!?"  
"I said you would be reunited. I never specified when. At current, I have some medtechs working on making her cybernetics less obvious and hindering, so she is not ready yet. As for you, I want your assistance to get to Naugus. So that you can prove to me that you are going through with this. And then, when that is done, when Mobotropolis is mine, you will see your wife."  
"But he'll kill you. That Chaos Emerald, combined with his powers, destroyed a much larger robot without any trouble." The skunk warned, now genuinely afraid that Metallix would die and he would be unable to get to Hershey.

"Ah yes. Chaos Emeralds. My creator had one, which he used to power this thing. It got merged with the core when the World Roboticizer fired. Then I touched the core myself, and I absorbed part of it, which is what made me become this being. And now…" Metallix's chest opened up, revealing the blue Chaos Emerald, nestled within his spark chamber.  
"It's whole again…" Geoffrey finished. "So you're probably on equal footing with my… _former_ Master."  
"Indeed. Do we have a deal?" The android held out his hand, and Geoffrey gingerly shook it, half-expecting it to roboticize him where he stood.  
"Yes, we have a deal."  
"Excellent." Metallix snapped his fingers, and closed up his chest, opening up a swirling portal, which both of them stepped through.

* * *

The exit hole for the tear was right next to the palace, and Geoffrey looked around at the deserted city.  
"They took Sonic's evacuation order seriously." He thought aloud, somewhat surprised.  
"Of course. I should imagine that his word carries some weight as the hero of Mobius, the council will have wanted out as soon as possible, and your false king did not attempt to veto it." Metallix pointed out, as he headed towards the doors to the palace. The two guards still stood on duty, as it was their role to value the life of the king over their own. Both backed up as Metallix approached, raising their guns, but Geoffrey stepped forward, gesturing for them to relax.  
"It's okay. He's with me."  
"O…Okay, sir…" The two lowered their, guns, and allowed Metallix and Geoffrey through the gates. The android made a beeline for the king's quarters, his companion following warily. They reached the door without further issue, and Metallix placed his hand on the door, causing it to ripple slightly. He then opened up another portal.

"Well, I have now merged with the nanites. Naugus is within my grasp. You are free to go to your wife." He informed, smiling.  
"Th-thank you, sir. You have no idea what this means to me."  
"Oh, I do. Just go." He prompted. Grinning, Geoffrey saluted, and jumped through the portal, as the door itself melted to sludge.

Naugus, who was hunched over his desk, looked over his shoulder at Metallix.  
"Who are you?" He asked, brandishing his claw.  
"Ah, so you did not see my announcement of your lies and machinations. My name is Metallix, and this is my city now."  
"I think not." The hybrid growled, drawing his staff and starting to glow with purple energy. Metallix rolled his optics, calling upon his own Chaos Emerald and starting to glow blue. "You have an Emerald of your own?"  
"Indeed I do."

"Then I shall crush you and make it my own!" Naugus declared, firing a beam from his staff. It struck Metallix's right foot, and began to coat it in green crystal. He android's aura shone brighter, and he fired his engines, breaking free of the crystal, and shooting towards Naugus. His claws clamped around the monstrous warlock's fat throat, and he launched himself up through the ceiling, pushing himself further until they saw daylight, leaving them in the sky above the city. The robot hurled his foe at a nearby skyscraper, only for his cape to shift into a pair of chiropteran wings, and stop his tumble, gliding up on a thermal to face him once more.

Metallix vanished in a flash of light, reappearing behind Naugus, and drawing his blades, shearing the membranes off of the ancient being's wings, leaving him to plummet to the ground. Taking advantage of the moment of freedom, he opened up a comms channel with Auto-Fiona.  
"Land the troops, but have them try to remain peaceful. Do not- I repeat _do not_ attack civilians. The Freedom Fighters will be more than enough for you, though."  
"Yes sir."

* * *

Far below, the now-reunited Freedom Fighters watched from their makeshift bunker as Naugus hit the ground, and struggled to his feet.  
"Metallix certainly packs a punch." Rotor muttered.  
"Indeed he does." Sally agreed.  
"What are we supposed to do? Sit here, and wait for death?" Fiona asked.  
"Oooh, could you do that for me, sis? I'd appreciate it." Echoed the voice of Auto-Fiona.  
"Her again." The organic vixen growled. "I'm going to get her for stealing my life and ruining it." She started to go for exit, but Tails placed his mechanical hand on her shoulder.

"Fi, I know you want to get back at her. We all do for what she's done to us and most of all to you. But we've seen what she can do, and she's out of your league. She killed Scourge and badly wounded Predator and Frog, and they're a fair bit stronger than you."  
"So you're saying I shouldn't try?"  
"Of course not. I'm suggesting that I go with you."  
"Oh, right."  
"She'll have troops with her. We'll all go." Rotor stated, his nanite battlesuit appearing around him.  
"Yeah, you two can focus on the bitch herself, we'll take those bots." Amy agreed, her hammer appearing in her hand.  
"Sounds like a plan." Fiona nodded, drawing her sword and gun. The Freedom Fighters headed outside, and were instantly met by Auto-Fiona and a small army of Metal Sonics.

"Hello again." Auto-Fiona smiled, as she flipped out her blade and double-barrelled beam cannon. "It's nice to see you once more, sister."  
"I would say the same, but lying is bad." Fiona shot back.  
"Ooh, you're cranky. Well, why don't you just let this end, and then you can go back to your tube and have another nice long sleep." The robotic vixen smirked. Fiona snarled, and lunged at her, locking blades as Auto-Fiona cackled with insane glee. "Feisty one, aren't you, Fiona?"

Before Fiona could respond, a blast of Ixis magic separated them both, and when it faded, Metallix picked himself up out of the crater that he been left behind. He once again threw off his cape, and drew his swords, rushing at Naugus. He dodged a swipe of the warlock's claw, and countered a strike from the staff with one of his swords, before slashing his chest with the other. Naugus growled, stowed his staff, and grabbed both blades, channelling his magic through them and turning them into crystal, which then shattered. He tried to do the same to Metallix's wrists, but the android caught the incoming attacks, cancelling out the magic with his own Chaos power.

The two beings grappled, Chaos energy and Ixis magic arcing from their hands, both pushing with all of their possible might, and neither willing to give an inch. Metallix smirked, lifting his foot up and firing his engine at Naugus' chest, burning him. Naugus roared with pain, giving his opponent the chance to bodily throw him into a wall. He jetted forward, aiming himself for the old hybrid's staff, and closed his fingers around the Chaos Emerald at its tip. With a little twisting and pulling, he wrenched it off, feeling himself grow stronger merely from holding it. However, the distraction gave Naugus the perfect opportunity to strike back. He fired a large, powerful blast from his claw, hurling his foe through the air, and sending him crashing through a skyscraper, which began to distort and melt.

Metallix forced himself up out of the second crater he had found himself in that day, and looked down at the purple Emerald in his grip. His chest opened, and ejected the blue one, as the melting building started to flow towards him. Both gemstones began to revolve around his body, as optics shone so brightly they looked white.

"I grow weary of this." He growled, as the melted river of metal separated into its component nanites and whipped up into the air. He too rose from the ground, without using his engines, levitated by the Emeralds themselves, as they span around him at frightening speed. The cloud of nanites surrounded him, completely hiding him from view. Naugus stared up at it, and the Freedom Fighters paused their battle with Auto-Fiona's troops to look up too.

A long trail extended from the cloud, easily fifteen metres long, condensing into a more solid shape as liquid metal splashed out and covered it. Another two trails, slightly shorter, but bulkier, extended from the bottom, as the cloud began to lose its spheroid shape and look more ovular. Two more smaller trails fired out, these ones thirteen metres long. All four remaining tendrils of nanites were covered, as was the main body of the cloud.

The first now resembled a long, silver tail, covered in plates of cobalt armour, with a pair of sharp, five-metre long blades at the tip, making it longer still. The second two now appeared to be gigantic limbs, very similar in shape to Metallix's legs, though the four toes now all faced forward, a pair of smaller toes attaching to the back of each foot to support it. The back of each leg was now occupied by a pair of huge rocket boosters, each of which fired a small jet of flame as they finished forming. The main body of the cloud was just that- a body, or rather a torso, long, another fifteen metres by itself. The midsection was segmented like that of Metallix original body, and the chest and pointed, four-metre long shoulder plates bore the same pattern as Metallix's chest, complete with a red crystal in the chest, and like its legs, its back carried a pair of huge rocket engines.

Twin shoulder mounted, triple-barrelled laser cannons folded forwards over the shoulders, as the second pair of trails shaped themselves into long, thick arms, each ending in a hand with four long, sharp-taloned digits. The forearms had wing-like fins on their backs, and the hands clenched into fists. As they did this, most of the remaining nanites coalesced behind the shoulders, each forming a ten metre long limb. From the end of these, a spine of a further ten metres extended, joined by two more of eight metres, and a single one of four metres, Liquid metal flowed across the gaps between these, and hardening, becoming a stretchy, thin membrane. Finally, a thick neck extended from between the shoulders, as the final nanites formed a sleek, smooth shape, which came to a point at the tip. From the back end of it, three spines, resembling Metallix's quills grew, complete with the white markings.. The underside of it separated on a hinge, becoming a shark-like mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth, and finally, a crescent shaped visor opened up near the front of the head, with a single optic sensor in it, and a second, identical one appeared just below that.

The Freedom Fighters and Naugus stared up in abject terror, while Auto-Fiona grinned insanely. The thirty-metre tall mechanical dragon, forged from the unholy union of Metallix himself, two Chaos Emeralds, and one and a half skyscrapers stood over them, cast in silhouette by the midday sun behind him. The robotic warlord looked down over his new body, inspecting it, and smiled, chuckling in a voice that was deeper and harsher than the one he had possessed previously. He opened his mouth, spreading his immense wings at the same time, and spoke.

"**All living things, kneel before your master!**"


	10. Chapter 10

The Rise of the Metallix: Chapter 10- Overlord

"Sal?" Sonic asked, his arms hanging limp by his sides. "What do we do?"  
"I… I… _I don't know…_" The Robian squirrel groaned, as she and the other Freedom Fighters stared up at the colossus in terror.  
"Did everyone get out of the city?" Fiona asked, prompting Amy to nod, but not say a word.  
"Then we can get out of here." Tails stated.  
"Right, the city's empty aside from Naugus. We can just go." Rotor agreed.  
"Yes… Freedom Fighters, retreat!" Sally ordered, the team already heading for the gate. However, as they approached it, they found their way blocked by Metal Sonics. Auto-Fiona's army all had their weapons trained on them, though oddly, the cyber vixen herself was nowhere to be seen.  
"Guys, remember, these things pack a punch, but they can barely take a hit, and thankfully, only two of us are limited to close-quarters combat." Sonic cautioned. "Amy, stay on my trail. I'm going to piledrive through 'em. You just bat away anything that gets too close."

The pink hedgehog nodded, and Sonic revved himself up, shooting into the army as Amy ran along behind him, caving their heads in with her hammer. Sally, Nicole, and Rotor were already airborne, firing at the Metal Sonics below and swerving to avoid the return fire. Fiona headed for Tails, so that he could carry her over, but she felt a hand grab her ankle, and wrenched her legs from under her. The back of her head hit the ground, making her head spin, and she suddenly felt the wind whipping past her, realising that she was being carried by someone who was decidedly not friendly.  
"Hey there, sis!" Auto-Fiona giggled. "You didn't think I was going to let you escape, did you?" She spun her body around in the air, hurling Fiona into a building. The vixen cried out as one of her legs broke, and screamed as she realised that she was about to drop thirty-six feet with nothing to break her fall. She closed her eyes, trying not to imagine the horrible pain she was about to experience if she wasn't outright killed, but instead felt a strong, fur-covered arm wrap around her midriff, and pull her against a furry torso. She opened her eyes, and found herself in Tails' embrace as he slowed them both down, then took off at high speed, shifting his arm into cannon form. Fiona drew her gun as well, and both of them started firing at Auto-Fiona. The automaton ducked and swerved, flying out of the way of each shot in an impressive display of aerobatics, since her blade, as a standard metal weapon, could not deflect any form of shot. She looked at the two separate weapons firing at her with interest, noting that Fiona's gun seemed to be average in every way, and though Tails' fired slightly slower, it was firing Chaos Spears- not something she wanted to be hit by.

She extended her own cannon, and fired at Fiona, Tails strafing to his right to avoid it, and returning fire. The Spear missed, and she tried again, firing multiple blasts at Tails himself, who flew straight upwards and over one of the roofs. She pursued, trying to catch up, but received a slew of small energy blasts in the torso for her troubles, after which she felt a much larger one stab into her gut, and carry her away. He'd got her with the Chaos Spear gun. She crashed to the ground, looking at the hole in her stomach, and growled. Standing up, she flew back up the rooftop, firing madly, until she felt something stick into her chest sending waves of pain through her body. She looked down, and saw Fiona's shortsword embedded in her torso. She growled, and wrenched it out, only causing herself more pain, and freezing in fear when she realised that she could see her spark through the hole in her armour. She heard the sound of both of her adversaries' guns firing, and watched, paralyzed, as both blasts speared into her open spark chamber, and her upper torso exploded.

"You know, after she slapped me in the face, betrayed us all, kicked my heart in the balls on several occasions, ran off with Scourge, freed Scourge from jail, and blamed it all on you, that was… satisfying." Tails sighed.  
"I know what you mean."

Tails landed on the roof below them, and set Fiona down gently, flipping the cannon away. She held her leg out straight for him, as he flared up Chaos energy around his metal hand placed it in the area of the fracture, sending waves of warming, healing ,positive energy through the damaged limb, which immediately started to heal. Within a few seconds, the limb was fully functional again, and the two foxes stood up, Tails panting from the exertion of the skill. Fiona limped slightly- her leg might have been working well, but it still hurt to put weight on it, and chuckled quietly.  
"What's funny?" Tails asked.  
"It's just that I'm the medic, and you're having to patch _me_ up." She giggled.  
"Yeah, that is pretty funny." He conceded. "Now, let's get going. We need to get out here before 'tall blue and draconic' steps on us."

* * *

Naugus, meanwhile, refused to be deterred, even by the size of the Overlord, and had healed his wings. He was flying around the titan, firing blasts of Ixis magic at him, but he didn't seem to be having an effect. While they had left scorch marks, there didn't seem to be anything more than that, and he was having to constantly break off attack runs to avoid being impaled or having his wings ripped by the metal spears that Metallix was causing to lance upwards from the ground.

Naugus flew upwards now, heading for the beast's head, Metallix watched him coming, bolts of magic and Ixis energy spewing from his claw and staff. The dragon simply raised his hand, and backhanded the hybrid, sending him flying away and crashing through several buildings. He chuckled softly, and started to walk towards the fallen wizard, when a huge beam of dark purple Ixis magic shot towards him. Metallix raised an eyebrow, and shielded himself with his wings. The beam barely dented the huge membranes.  
**"You shall have to do better than that, Naugus. I am beginning to grow tired of you."** He jeered, as Naugus reappeared, flying up and circling the cobalt machine, looking for any weak points. All he had were the optics, and those were astoundingly well defended. However, Metallix did have emotions, and Naugus himself could manipulate those very easily.

He reached out, trying to amplify Metallix's fear, and make him panicked and reckless, but the dragon simply laughed at him.  
**"See me as I am, no longer afraid of anything."** He grabbed Naugus, and slammed him down into the ground, breaking the old wizard's legs and snapping off the horn on his head.  
"Why will you not just die!?" He howled, much to the giant's amusement.  
**"I will never die. Even if my body is destroyed, it will simply repair itself. I am far too powerful to ever die, you insignificant little mage."**  
Then he lifted him up, and took hold of his body between his fingers and thumbs. He pulled, using a fraction of his strength, and tore the hybrid into two pieces, which he then dropped.

He looked over the city, as the nanites, under his control, began to reshape it to his designs. He made a check on his forces- and was quite surprised to find that all of them, including Auto-Fiona, were dead. Still, it wasn't a huge loss. He had the city, he still had the Death Egg, he still had his new Metal team, he still had his armies, and he now held Mecha Sally's mind safely within his own, with no danger of her being kidnapped now that Sally herself was back amongst her friends. Losing a loose cannon such as Auto-Fiona was not an especially distressing event.

Then he realised, however, that if they could destroy Auto-Fiona and the soldiers that easily, then he might have some trouble with them. They were, of course, no longer in the city itself. Looking off the general direction of Knothole, Metallix began to beat his wings, as all six of his rockets fired, lifting him off from the ground and allowing him to take to the air, following his enemies.

* * *

In Knothole, Sonic and Mecha Sally were waiting for the arrival of Tails and Fiona, with Knuckles, who was holding the last warp ring open. Everyone else had gotten to safety, but the echidna had to stay in case of a mishap, and Sonic and Sally refused to leave the two foxes behind.

Soon, they appeared, Tails carrying Fiona at breakneck speed up the path.  
"Whoa, kid, slow down!" Knuckles called, as Tails screeched to a halt next to him.  
"Sorry, but we have to go now." Fiona replied, since Tails was too busy gasping for breath. "Metallix just finished Naugus off, and now he's flying this way."

As if on cue, the Overlord appeared over the treetops. He glared at them, and levelled his shoulder cannons, charging them up.  
"Quick, into the ring!" Sally yelled over the whine of the triple-barrelled guns warming up. The Freedom Fighters piled through, and Knuckles followed, closing the ring behind him as the guns fired and razed the site to ashes. Metallix cursed inwardly, having failed to prevent the escape.  
**"You win this round."**

* * *

Two weeks later…

The citizens of New Mobotropolis were settling in well into their new homes- some of them had gone to the other cities, such as Echidnopolis, others staying in the settlement that had been built since their arrival. It reminded Sonic of Knothole, being quiet, out of the way, in a forest, and it even had a large lake for them to immerse the Ring Forge in, should they decide to do so.

Tails and Fiona were practically inseparable. Fiona was regaining her more sarcastic attitude, and Tails was still finding new ways to modify his robotic arm. They fetched the Tornado once they had settled in, and they were now redesigning T-Pup's body, to make him look more like a feral dog than a Mobian one on all fours.

Antoine was now showing signs of waking from his coma, and Bunnie had been located. Rotor and Amy had left a few days ago to find her and bring her home, now that they were in a time of relative peace. Nicole wanted to see exactly what had caused the loss of her cybernetic limbs, and of course, having her there to meet Antoine once he woke up was also important.

Nicole was quite happy with her new life- She spent a lot of time in the labs, and had already worked out how the liquid metal armour worked, and creating some for herself and Jules, allowing them to appear more lifelike. Sally had changed hers- it now reflected her normal clothing- as well, though she was a lot less happy about what was going on.

As they had feared, despite Tails, Nicole, Rotor, and even Fiona and Charles, they could not build a Deroboticizer that would work on the poor squirrel. The most they got out of it was bright flash and a painful electric shock for Sally. The former Princess had taken to sitting by the lake, staring at her reflection and lamenting the loss of her life to the machine. She didn't move a lot, not needing to eat, drink, or sleep, and no matter what he tried, he couldn't get her to respond to him.

As he watched her mope, ideas started forming inside Sonic's head. Crazy ones, sensible ones, impossible ones, and outright evil ones, just to get Sally back on her feet. Only one thing stuck out in his mind, and even though he hated it, he couldn't find a possible better idea. Casting one last glance at Sally, her walked into the lab, and started looking for the correct machine.

* * *

Sally was, as expected, sitting by the lake, and staring at her reflection. She brought the brown metal of her hands up in front of her optics, and let a fresh stream of coolant run down her cheeks. To her, everything was lost. She knew that she was going to be stuck like this forever as her friends, family, and loved ones grew old and died. She would be forced to watch this, and then their kids go through the same, and so on.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt metallic fingertips on her shoulder. She turned around, looking up, and gasped. Standing behind her was another Robian, blue and silver armour, with feet, built like running shoes, three long, curved quills hanging down from behind his head, and warm, green optics glowing in the evening gloom.

Mecha Sonic pulled Sally into a tight embrace, holding her and gently petting her. She returned the gesture, and the duo sat down on the shore to enjoy the rest of the night.

* * *

In the newly renamed New Robotropolis, Metallix, now in his natural, Mobian sized form again, sat on his throne at the top of a silver spire that had replaced the palace. Sitting by his side was Metal Sally- identical to Sally as she was when under Metallix's power, but physically stronger and even more devoted.

"It is far from over, Sonic…"


End file.
